1994 World Cup Final vs Italy
Brazil's fourth World Cup title, sealed on penalties in a historic scoreless final.
The final match of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th edition of the quadrennial soccer competition organized by FIFA for the men's national teams of its member associations, took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, United States, on July 17, 1994. Brazil beat Italy 3–2 on penalties to claim its fourth World Cup title when the game finished 0–0 after extra time. This was the first time Brazil lifted the FIFA World Cup Trophy; for their previous three titles, last won in 1970, they were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy. This is also the first FIFA World Cup final held in the United States, with the second being the 2026 final.
Quick Facts
- Date
- July 17, 1994
- Venue
- Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
- Result
- 0-0 (Brazil wins 3-2 on penalties)
- Winning goalkeeper
- Cláudio Taffarel
- Deciding penalty taker
- Branco
- Missed penalties
- Dunga (Italy), Roberto Baggio (Italy)
Lore & Background
It is to date the only World Cup final to be scoreless after 120 minutes, and the first to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Silver Ball winner Roberto Baggio missed the decisive penalty for Italy. Brazil had previously beaten Italy in the 1970 final, marking the 1994 final as the second time that the same teams had met in two different World Cup finals, after Argentina and West Germany met in 1986 and 1990. Played at 12:30 pm local time, this was the last World Cup final to be played in broad daylight until the 2026 final.
FIFA awarded the final game of the tournament to the famous college sports stadium near Los Angeles on June 30, 1992; the Rose Bowl was the largest stadium used for the tournament. With over 94,000 spectators, the 1994 final is the most recent World Cup final to have an attendance of 90,000 or more as of 2026. The Brazilian team dedicated its win to the late triple Formula One motor racing world champion Ayrton Senna, who had died in an accident at that year's San Marino Grand Prix in Italy two and a half months before.
With Italy finishing as runner-up, Franco Baresi became the sixth player in history to win gold, silver, and bronze medals at the FIFA World Cup. Previously this result was attained in 1974 by five German players: Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfgang Overath, Jürgen Grabowski, and Horst-Dieter Höttges.
Reader's Guide
The game was played at the Rose Bowl, in the city of Pasadena, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. With a capacity of 102,000, it was the largest of the venues selected for the World Cup and had previously hosted the gold medal match at the 1984 Summer Olympics and five Super Bowls, as well as the annual Rose Bowl Game in college American football. The ball for this game was the Adidas Questra, which was introduced at the start of the World Cup.
The ball was lighter than those previously used. Canadian journalist Scott McKeen described it as having been 'engineered to created more excitement for soccer, in a land where there has been little soccer excitement'. The ball's controllability was praised by strikers in the tournament, but goalkeepers criticized what they said was its unpredictable tendency to deviate in flight. Brazil had won the title three times before—in 1958, 1962, and 1970—while Italy had also recorded three wins in the 1934, 1938, and 1982 tournaments.
The winner would therefore be the first nation to record a fourth World Cup win. The two teams had met four times previously in the World Cup with two wins each – in the semifinal of the 1938 tournament, which Italy won 2–1; the 1970 final, which Brazil won 4–1; the match for third place in 1978, won 2–1 by Brazil; and four years later in the group stage, where Italy won the game 3–2.
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