1974 FIFA World Cup
| 1974 FIFA World Cup - West Germany Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 1974 |
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 Official Logo |
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| Teams | 16 (from 99 entrants) |
| Host | West Germany |
| Champions |  West Germany (2nd title) |
| Matches played | 38 |
| Goals scored | 97 (average 2.553 per match) |
| Attendance | (average per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Grzegorz Lato7 goals |
The 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from June 13 to July 7. West Germany had been chosen in July 1966 as hosts by FIFA. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded. The previous trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was won for the third time by Brazil in 1970 and awarded permanently to the Brazilians. The host nation won the title beating Netherlands in the final, 2-1. The victory was the second for West Germany, who had won in 1954.
Qualification
Ninety-eight countries took part in the qualifying tournament, and as usual there were some high-profile failures on the road to the finals. England were among them, having lost out to Poland in their qualifying group. France, Spain and Hungary also failed to reach the finals. First-time qualifiers included East Germany, Haiti, Australia and Zaire, the first team from sub-Saharan Africa to reach the World Cup finals.
Summary
First Round
Attendances were rather low [citation needed]. The tournament was held mostly in bad weather, and the stadia had few protected places. Few western European nations had qualified, of which most were eliminated early. Fans from the Eastern neighbor states were hindered by political circumstances, or by lack of funds.
Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be sent off with a red card in a World Cup match, during their match against West Germany. Red cards were formally introduced in World Cup play in 1970, but no players were sent off in that tournament.
The format of the competition changed from 1970: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. The top two teams in each group advanced to the second round, where they split into two groups of four. The winners of each group played each other in the final, and the second place finishers in the third place match.
Two teams made a particularly powerful impact on the first round. The Netherlands demonstrated the Total football techniques pioneered by the top Dutch club Ajax, in which specialised positions were virtually abolished for the outfield players, and individual players became defenders, midfielders or strikers as the situation required. The Dutch marked their World Cup finals debut by topping their first-round group, with wins over Uruguay and Bulgaria and a draw with Sweden. Sweden joined the Dutch in the second group round after beating Uruguay 3-0.
Poland, meanwhile, took maximum points from a group containing two of the favourites for the tournament. They beat Argentina 3-2, trounced Haiti 7-0, then beat Italy 2-1 - a result that knocked the Italians out of the Cup and resulted in Argentina sneaking to the second group round on goal average. While Haiti didn't do particularly well in their first World Cup finals (losing all three of their games) they did have one moment of glory. In their opening game against Italy, they managed to take the lead with a goal from Emmanuel Sanon, before eventually losing 3-1 (Italy had not condeded a match in 19 international matches).
Group 2 was a particularly close group. The group was decided by how many goals could Brazil, Yugoslavia and Scotland score to defeat Zaire. Every other game played in the group was drawn. So the three top teams all finished with four points. Yugoslavia hammered them 9-0. Brazil beat them 3-0. Scotland could only manage a 2-0 margin, and so were edged out of the tournament on goal difference. After holding the mighty Brazil to a goalless draw, and going through the group unbeaten, the Scots were entitled to feel very unlucky to be eliminated.
Group 1 contained both East Germany and the host West Germany, and they both progressed at the expense of Chile and Australia. But the big clash was between the two Germanies. In one of the most politically charged matches of all time, it was the east that won, thanks to a late Jürgen Sparwasser goal. The embarrassing result caused panic in the West German camp, despite the fact that they were safely through to the second group round.
Second Group Round
Ironically, the two second-round groups both produced matches that were, in effect, semi-finals. In Group A, the Netherlands and Brazil met after each had taken maximum points from their previous two matches. In Group B, the same was true of West Germany and Poland - so the winners of these two games would contest the final.
In Group A, two goals from the inspirational Johan Cruyff helped the Dutch side thrash Argentina 4-0. At the same time, Brazil defeated East Germany 1-0. The Dutch triumphed over East Germany 2-0 while in the all-South American match, Brazil managed to defeat Argentina 2-1 in a scrappy match. Argentina and East Germany tied 1-1 and were on their way home while the crucial match between the Netherlands and Brazil turned into another triumph for 'total football', as second-half goals from Johan Neeskens and Cruyff put the Netherlands in the final.
Meanwhile, in Group B, West Germany and Poland both managed to beat Yugoslavia and Sweden. The crucial game between the Germans and the Poles was goalless until the 76th minute, when Gerd Muller scored to send the hosts through 1-0. The Poles took third place after defeating the low-morale Brazil 1-0.
The Final
West Germany was led by Franz Beckenbauer, while the Dutch had their star Johan Cruijff, and their Total Football system which had dazzled the competition. With just a minute gone on the clock, following a solo run, Cruijff was brought down by Uli Hoeneß close to the German penalty area, and the Dutch took the lead from the ensuing penalty by Johan Neeskens before any German player had even touched the ball. West Germany struggled to recover, and the 26th minute was soon awarded a penalty after Bernd Hölzenbein fell within the Dutch area, causing British referee to award another controversial penalty. Paul Breitner spontaneously decided to kick, and scored. These two penalties were the first in a World Cup final. West Germany now pushed, but could not score, until when in the 43rd, in his typical style, Gerd Müller scored what turned out to be the winning goal, and the last of his career as he retired from the national team. The second half saw chances for both sides, with Müller putting the ball in the net for a goal that was disallowed as offside. In the 85th, Hölzenbein was fouled again, but no penalty this time. Eventually, West Germany, the European Champion of 1972, won also the 1974 World Cup.
Poland's Grzegorz Lato led the tournament in scoring seven goals. Gerd Müller's goal in the final was the 14th in his career of two World Cups, beating Just Fontaine's record of 13, in his single World Cup. Müller's record was only surpassed in 2006 by Ronaldo's 15 goals from three World Cups.
Mascot
The official mascots of this World Cup were Tip and Tap, two boys wearing outfit similar to West Germany's, with the letters WM (Weltmeisterschaft, World Cup) and number 74.
Venues
Nine cities hosted the tournament:
- West Berlin, Olympiastadion
- Dortmund, Westfalenstadion
- Düsseldorf, Rheinstadion
- Frankfurt, Waldstadion
- Gelsenkirchen, Parkstadion
- Hamburg, Volksparkstadion
- Hanover, Niedersachsenstadion
- Munich, Olympiastadion
- Stuttgart, Neckarstadion
Seeded teams
Brazil, 
Italy, 
West Germany, and 
Uruguay
Match officials
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Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1974 FIFA World Cup squads.
Results
First round
All times local ([[UTC+2]])
Group 1
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 East
Germany |
5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 |
| West Germany |
4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 |
 Chile |
2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
 Australia |
1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 |
| June 14, 1974 16:00 |
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| West Germany |
1 – 0 | Chile |
West Berlin, Olympiastadion Attendance: 83,168 Referee: Babacan (Turkey) |
Breitner  18' |
(Report) |
| June 14, 1974 19:30 |
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East Germany  |
2 – 0 | Australia |
Hamburg, Volksparkstadion Attendance: 10,000 Referee: N'Diaye (Senegal) |
| Curran 58' (o.g.) Streich  72' |
(Report) |
| June 18, 1974 16:00 |
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Australia  |
0 – 3 | West Germany |
Hamburg, Volksparkstadion Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Kamel (Egypt) |
| (Report) | Overath 12' Cullmann 34'Müller 53' |
| June 18, 1974 19:30 |
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Chile  |
1 – 1 | East
Germany |
West Berlin, Olympiastadion Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Angonese (Italy) |
| Ahumada 69' |
(Report) | Hoffmann 55' |
| June 22, 1974 16:00 |
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| Australia |
0 – 0 | Chile |
West Berlin, Olympiastadion Attendance: 14,681 Referee: Namdar (Iran) |
| (Report) |
| June 22, 1974 19:30 |
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| East Germany |
1 – 0 | West Germany |
Hamburg, Volksparkstadion Attendance: 60,350 Referee: Barreto (Uruguay) |
| Sparwasser 77' |
(Report) |
Group 2
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 |
| Brazil |
4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 |
 Scotland |
4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 |
 Zaire |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | -14 |
| June 13, 1974 17:00 |
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Brazil  |
0 – 0 | |
Frankfurt, Waldstadion Attendance: 62,000 Referee: Scheurer (Switzerland) |
| (Report) |
| June 14, 1974 19:30 |
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Zaire  |
0 – 2 | Scotland |
Dortmund, Westfalenstadion Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Schulenburg (West Germany) |
| (Report) | Lorimer 26' Jordan 34' |
| June 18, 1974 19:30 |
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| Yugoslavia |
9 – 0 | Zaire |
Gelsenkirchen, Parkstadion Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Gómez (Colombia) |
| Bajević 8', 30', 81' Džajić 14'Šurjak 18'Katalinski 22'Bogićević 35'Oblak 61'Petković 65' |
(Report) |
| June 18, 1974 19:30 |
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Scotland  |
0 – 0 | Brazil |
Frankfurt, Waldstadion Attendance: 50,000 Referee: van Gemert (Netherlands) |
| (Report) |
| June 22, 1974 16:00 |
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| Scotland |
1 – 1 | |
Frankfurt, Waldstadion Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Archundía (Mexico) |
| Jordan 88' |
(Report) | Karasi 81' |
| June 22, 1974 16:00 |
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| Zaire |
0 – 3 | Brazil |
Gelsenkirchen, Parkstadion Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Rainea (Romania) |
| (Report) | Jairzinho 12' Rivelino 66'Valdomiro 79' |
Brazil beats Scotland by better goal diffrence
Group 3
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands |
5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 |
 Sweden |
4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 |
 Bulgaria |
2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -3 |
 Uruguay |
1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 |
| June 15, 1974 16:00 |
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| Uruguay |
0 – 2 | Netherlands |
Hanover, Niedersachsenstadion Attendance: 53,700 Referee: Palotai (Hungary) |
| (Report) | Rep 16', 86' |
| June 15, 1974 16:00 |
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Sweden  |
0 – 0 | Bulgaria |
Düsseldorf, Rheinstadion Attendance: 22,500 Referee: Perez Nunez (Peru) |
| (Report) |
| June 19, 1974 19:30 |
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| Uruguay |
1 – 1 | Bulgaria |
Hanover, Niedersachsenstadion Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Taylor (England) |
| Pavoni 87' |
(Report) | Bonev 75' |
| June 19, 1974 19:30 |
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Netherlands  |
0 – 0 | Sweden |
Dortmund, Westfalenstadion Attendance: 53,700 Referee: Winsemann (Canada) |
| (Report) |
| June 23, 1974 16:00 |
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| Netherlands |
4 – 1 | Bulgaria |
Dortmund, Westfalenstadion Attendance: 52,100 Referee: Boskovic (Australia) |
| Neeskens 5' (pen), 45' (pen) Rep 71'de Jong 88' |
(Report) | Krol 78' (o.g.) |
| June 23, 1974 16:00 |
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| Sweden |
3 – 0 | Uruguay |
Düsseldorf, Rheinstadion Attendance: 27,100 Referee: Linemayr (Austria) |
| Edström 46', 77' Sandberg 74' |
(Report) |
Group 4
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poland |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 |
 Argentina |
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
| Italy |
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 |
 Haiti |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | -12 |
| June 15, 1974 18:00 |
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Italy  |
3 – 1 | Haiti |
Munich, Olympiastadion Attendance: 51,100 Referee: Llobregat (Venezuela) |
| Rivera 52' Benetti 66'Anastasi 79' |
(Report) | Sanon 46' |
| June 15, 1974 18:00 |
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Poland  |
3 – 2 | Argentina |
Stuttgart, Neckarstadion Attendance: 31,500 Referee: Thomas (Wales) |
| Lato 7', 62' Szarmach 8' |
(Report) | Heredia 60' Babington 66' |
| June 19, 1974 19:30 |
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Argentina .svg) |
1 – 1 | Italy |
Stuttgart, Neckarstadion Attendance: 68,900 Referee: Glöckner (East Germany) |
| Houseman 19' |
(Report) | Perfumo 35' (o.g.) |
| June 19, 1974 19:30 |
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Haiti .svg) |
0 – 7 | Poland |
Munich, Olympiastadion Attendance: 23,400 Referee: Suppiah (Singapore) |
| (Report) | Lato 17', 87' Deyna 18'Szarmach 30', 34', 50'Gorgoń 31' |
| June 23, 1974 16:00 |