1974 FIFA World Cup

The tenth men's FIFA World Cup took place in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July 1974. For the first time, the winners received the new FIFA World Cup Trophy, designed by Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga. The old Jules Rimet Trophy had been awarded permanently to Brazil after their third victory in 1970. West Germany claimed their second title, following their 1954 win, by defeating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final at Munich’s Olympiastadion.

Four nations made their debut at the final stage: Australia, East Germany, Haiti, and Zaire. East Germany would never appear again as a separate team before German reunification in 1990. Defending champion Brazil was eliminated in the second round by the Netherlands and then lost the third-place match to Poland. Poland’s Grzegorz Lato led all scorers with seven goals. Gerd Müller’s goal in the final was his 14th across two World Cups, breaking Just Fontaine’s record of 13 from a single tournament in 1958; Müller’s mark was later surpassed by Ronaldo in 2006.

Günter Netzer, a substitute for West Germany during their loss to East Germany, played for Real Madrid at the time, making him the first World Cup winner to play for a club outside his home country. This tournament is the most recent of four World Cups (alongside 1930, 1950, and 1962) in which no match required extra time.

West Germany was chosen as host by FIFA in London on 6 July 1966, with the 1978 and 1982 hosts also selected then. West Germany struck a deal with Spain: Spanish support for West Germany’s 1974 bid in exchange for an uncontested Spanish bid for 1982.

In a 2008 interview with Folha de Sao Paulo, former FIFA president João Havelange claimed the 1974 tournament, like the 1966 edition, was fixed for the host to win. He alleged that in Brazil’s match against the Netherlands, a German referee was assigned, Brazil lost 2–0, and Germany went on to win the title, despite Brazil fielding the same team that had won in 1962 and 1970.

Ninety-eight countries entered qualifying. The USSR was disqualified after refusing to travel for the second leg of their playoff against Chile following the 1973 Chilean coup d’état. The Netherlands and Poland qualified for the first time since 1938. Scotland returned after a 16-year absence, as did Argentina, Chile, and Yugoslavia. First-time qualifiers included East Germany (their only senior FIFA tournament appearance), Australia (the first Oceania team), Haiti (the first Caribbean team since Cuba in 1938), and Zaire (the first sub-Saharan African team, and third African overall).

This was the first of eight tournaments where the defending champions (Brazil) played the opening game instead of the hosts; that rule was reversed in 2006.

The format changed: 16 teams were split into four first-round groups, but the eight advancing teams entered a second group stage of two groups of four, rather than a knockout round. The group winners met in the final, and the runners-up played for third place. This format was used only once more, in 1978. FIFA introduced penalty shoot-outs for knockout matches, though they were not needed until 1982. If West Germany reached the second round, their matches were scheduled separately from the other group games.

The tournament was played mostly in bad weather, with few covered areas in the stadiums. Only five Western European nations qualified; three—the Netherlands, West Germany, and Sweden—advanced past the first round. Fans from Eastern Bloc countries faced political obstacles. Chile’s Carlos Caszely received the first red card in World Cup history during his team’s match against West Germany, as red cards were formally introduced.