1974 FIFA World Cup

Speaking in 2008, former FIFA president João Havelange said to Folha de Sao Paulo that the competition, along with the 1966 FIFA World Cup, was fixed so that the host country would win: "In the three matches that the Brazilian national team played in 1966, of the three referees and six linesmen, seven were British and two were Germans. Brazil went out, Pelé 'exited' through injury [following some rough defensive play], and England and Germany entered into the final, just as the Englishman Sir Stanley Rous, who was the President of FIFA at the time, had wanted. In Germany in 1974 the same thing happened. During the Brazil-Holland match, the referee was German, we lost 2–0 and Germany won the title. We [Havelange was Brazilian] were the best in the world, and had the same team that had won the World Cup in 1962 in Chile and 1970 in Mexico, but it was planned for the host countries to win".[2]

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

The tournament was held mostly in bad weather, and the stadia had few protected places. Only five western European nations had qualified, of which only the Netherlands, West Germany and Sweden made it past the group stage. Fans from the Eastern Communist neighbour states East Germany, Bulgaria and Poland were hindered by political circumstances.

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.

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 first World Cup finals since 1938 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, that also marked their first World Cup finals since 1938, 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 qualifying for the second group round on goal difference. Argentina would not fail to win either of their opening two games of a World Cup again until 2018.[5] While Haiti lost all three games and finished second-to-last in the tournament, 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. That goal proved to be significant as it ended Dino Zoff's run of 1,142 minutes without conceding a goal – Italy had not conceded in their last 12 international matches.

Group 2 was a particularly close group. With Brazil, Yugoslavia and Scotland drawing all their games against each other, it was decided by the number of goals these three teams scored when defeating Zaire. Yugoslavia hammered the African nation 9–0, equalling a finals record for the largest margin of victory. Brazil beat them 3–0. Scotland however only managed a 2–0 margin, and so were edged out of the tournament on goal difference. They were the only team that did not lose a game in the tournament as well as becoming the first ever country to be eliminated from a World Cup Finals without having lost a match.

Group 1 contained both East Germany and the host West Germany, and they both progressed at the expense of Chile and newcomers Australia. The last game played in Group 1 was much anticipated, a first ever clash between the two German teams. West Germany was already assured of progression to the second round whatever the result. In one of the most politically charged matches of all time, it was the East that won, thanks to a late Jürgen Sparwasser goal. This result forced a realignment of the West German team that would later help them win the tournament.

Coincidentally, 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 happened with 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 "Battle of the South Americans", Brazil managed to defeat Argentina 2–1 in a scrappy match. Argentina and East Germany drew 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. However the match would also be remembered for harsh defending on both sides.

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 Brazil 1–0.

The final was held on 7 July 1974 at Olympiastadion, Munich. West Germany was led by Franz Beckenbauer, while the Dutch had their star Johan Cruyff, and their Total Football system which had dazzled the competition. With just a minute gone on the clock, following a solo run, Cruyff was brought down by Uli Hoeneß inside 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 in the 26th minute were awarded a penalty, after Bernd Hölzenbein fell within the Dutch area, causing English referee Jack Taylor 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, and in the 43rd minute, 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, European Champions of 1972, also won the 1974 World Cup.

This was the only case of the reigning European champions winning the World Cup, until Spain (champions of the UEFA Euro 2008) defeated the Netherlands in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. France have also held both trophies, albeit in a different order, at the same time by winning the 1998 World Cup followed by Euro 2000.

Joao Havelange (former FIFA President from 1974 to 1998) claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.[6]

This was only the second time that a team had won the World Cup after losing a match in the Finals (West Germany losing to East Germany during the group stage). The previous occasion was West Germany's earlier win in 1954.

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 32 years later, in 2006 by Ronaldo's 15 goals from three World Cups and then 8 years after, in 2014 by Klose's 16 goals from four World Cups.

Günter Netzer, who came on as a substitute for West Germany during the defeat by the East Germans, was playing for Real Madrid at the time: this was the first time that a World Cup winner had played for a club outside his home country.

This is the last of four FIFA World Cup tournaments to date with no extra-time matches. The others are the 1930, 1950, and 1962 tournaments.

The final draw took place at 21:30 local time on 5 January 1974 in HR Sendesaal in Frankfurt,[8] and was televised on Eurovision. 80 commentators were gathered at the Eurovision headquarters, and TV stations from 32 countries had requested pictures of the ceremony at the time.[8] The TV broadcast of this show was followed by an estimated 800 million people.

Ahead of the draw, the FIFA Organising Committee decided that the host nation (West Germany) and trophy holder (Brazil) would be seeded, and placed respectively into the first position of Groups 1 and 2 prior to the draw. The remaining two top-seeded teams (Uruguay and Italy) would be drawn into the first position of Group 3 and Group 4.[lower-alpha 1] It was also decided that South American nations could not play in the same group during the first group stage. In other words, Argentina and Chile drawn from pot 3, could not be drawn into the two groups seeded by Brazil and Uruguay.

Uruguay was drawn before Italy, taking the seeded first position of Group 3, and Italy were drawn into the seeded first position of Group 4.[lower-alpha 1] Next, the remaining two South American teams from pot 3 were drawn into the two top-seeded European groups (Group 1 and Group 4), as per the draw regulations. This was followed by a draw of the remaining two European teams from pot 1 into Groups 2 and 3. Finally other nations were drawn on an unseeded basis, one by one into Group 1–4 in numerical order, first from pot 2 and then from pot 4.[10][9]

The "innocent hand" who made the draws was an 11-year-old boy, Detlef Lange, a member of the Schöneberger Sängerknaben, a children's choir.[8]

The great sensation of the draw was the meeting of the two German teams in Group 1. When FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous had announced the lot, the room was quiet for a few moments, followed by long-lasting applause. In the days following the event, a rumour began circulating that East Germany would consider withdrawing from the World Cup following a meeting with the West Germany delegation; however, this was quickly and officially denied by the East German government.[11]