1980 World Champions' Gold Cup

The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for "Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"), also known as Mundialito ("Little World Cup"), was a friendly international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and supported by FIFA[1][2]–although not officially recognized[3][4][5]–in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first FIFA World Cup, which had been celebrated in 1930 at the same venue. It was held at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 30 December 1980 to 10 January 1981.

See also: Little World Cup (disambiguation)
1980 World Champions' Gold Cup
Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales Uruguay '80
Charrúa, the official mascot
Tournament details
Host countryUruguay
Dates30 December 1980 –
10 January 1981
Teams6 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Uruguay
Runners-up Brazil
Tournament statistics
Matches played7
Goals scored19 (2.71 per match)
Attendance255,000 (36,429 per match)
Top scorer(s)Uruguay Waldemar Victorino
(3 goals)
Best player(s)Uruguay Ruben Paz

The tournament gathered the national teams of Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, Brazil, and Argentina,[6] five of the six World Cup-winning nations at the time, with the addition of the Netherlands –1974 and 1978 World Cup runners-up– who had been invited to replace England, who declined the invitation due to an already crowded fixture list. The World Champions' Gold Cup was held in the middle of the European football season (December/January) and the English league (as well as its clubs) were reluctant to release their players for a long journey to another continent.

Participating teams
TeamNotes
 Uruguay Hosts, 1930 and 1950 FIFA World Cup champions
 Italy 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cup champions
 West Germany 1954 and 1974 FIFA World Cup champions
 Brazil 1958, 1962, and 1970 FIFA World Cup champions
 Argentina 1978 and reigning FIFA World Cup champions
 Netherlands 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cup runners-up, replacing  England (1966 FIFA World Cup champions)

Format
Uruguayan goalkeeper Rodolfo Rodríguez raising the Mundialito trophy

The six teams were distributed in two groups of three: Group A was composed of the Netherlands, Italy, and Uruguay; Group B consisted of Argentina, Brazil, and West Germany. The winners of each group faced each other to decide the tournament winner.

Squads
Further information: 1980 Mundialito squads

Each team had a squad of 18 players (two of which had to be goalkeepers).

Outcome

Uruguay and Brazil won their respective groups and played the final, with Uruguay defeating Brazil 2–1 with a late goal, the same result that had occurred 30 years earlier between the two teams in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup. Uruguay's coach during the Mundialito, Roque Máspoli, had also been Uruguay's goalkeeper in the 1950 match.

Dutch manager Jan Zwartkruis resigned from his position as soon as he returned to the Netherlands,[7] while Leopoldo Luque and Rainer Bonhof never represented their country again.[7]

Group stage

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Uruguay 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 4 Final
2  Italy 2 0 1 1 1 3 −2 1
3  Netherlands 2 0 1 1 1 3 −2 1
Source: [8]
Rules for classification:
  1. Points
  2. Goal difference
  3. Number of goals scored
  4. Drawing of lots
Uruguay 2–0 Netherlands
Ramos 31'
Victorino 45'
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Enrique Labo (Peru)
Uruguay 2–0 Italy
Morales 67' (pen.)
Victorino 81'
Attendance: 55,000
Referee: Emilio Guruceta (Spain)
Italy 1–1 Netherlands
Ancelotti 7' Peters 15'
Attendance: 15,000

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 2 1 1 0 5 2 +3 3 Final
2  Argentina 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 3
3  West Germany 2 0 0 2 2 6 −4 0
Source: [8]
Rules for classification:
  1. Points
  2. Goal difference
  3. Number of goals scored
  4. Drawing of lots
Argentina 2–1 West Germany
Kaltz 84' (o.g.)
Díaz 88'		 Hrubesch 41'
Attendance: 60,000
Brazil 1–1 Argentina
Edevaldo 47' Report Maradona 30'
Attendance: 60,000
Brazil 4–1 West Germany
Júnior 56'
Cerezo 61'
Serginho 76'
Zé Sérgio 82'		 Allofs 54'
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Juan Silvagno (Chile)

Final
Uruguay 2–1 Brazil
Barrios 50'
Victorino 80'		 Sócrates 62' (pen.)
Attendance: 71,250

Scorers
3 goals
1 goal
Own goals

See also

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mundialito 1980.
  1. ElPais (9 January 2021). "La verdad sobre la Copa de Oro, una gloria celeste olvidada". Diario EL PAIS Uruguay (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  2. "A 40 años de la Copa de Oro, un título único - AUF". www.auf.org.uy. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  3. "FIFA Competitions". FIFA.com.
  4. "FIFA Competition Trophies" (PDF). FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 May 2019.
  5. "Join our Content Developer Jennifer for a sneak peek into our new extension of the FIFA World Cup Gallery". FIFA Museum.
  6. Mundialito 1980 by Martín Tabeira on the RSSSF
  7. Petrossian, Shahan. "Mundialito 1980 (Copa de Oro)". theantiquefootball.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  8. "Mundialito 1980". RSSSF. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
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