1978 FIFA World Cup

Juan Perón saluting the crowd, the inspiration of the Argentina 78 logo

Argentina was chosen as the host nation by FIFA on 6 July 1966 in London, England. Mexico withdrew from the bidding process after having been awarded the 1970 competition two years earlier.

The logo is based on President Juan Perón's signature gesture: a salute to the crowd with both arms extended above his head. This was one of the most famous, populist images of Perón. The design was created in 1974, two years prior to the military coup in 1976. The military leadership were aware that the World Cup's logo symbolized Perón's gesture, and they tried to change the competition's logo. At this point, the design was already broadly commercialized and the merchandise had already been made: a forced modification "would trigger a sea of lawsuits against the country", so the military had no option but to give up their attempts and leave it.[3]

The monetary cost of preparing to host the World Cup was put at $700 million, including building three new stadia and redeveloping three others; building five press centres; a new communications system costing $100 million; and improvements to transport systems.[4]

  Countries that qualified for World Cup

  Countries that failed to qualify

  Countries that did not enter

  Non-FIFA members

England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (the European champions) and the Soviet Union failed to qualify for the second World Cup in succession, losing out to Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland and Hungary respectively. 1974 Quarter-finalists East Germany and Yugoslavia were eliminated by Austria and Spain and thus also failed to qualify for the finals, along with Bulgaria which failed to qualify for the first time since 1958 after losing to France. Bolivia's win meant Uruguay also failed to qualify for the first time since 1958. Newcomers to the finals were Iran and Tunisia; Austria qualified for the first time since 1958, while France, Spain and Hungary were back for the first time since 1966. Peru and Mexico returned after missing the previous tournament. For the first time, more than 100 nations entered the competition.[5]

A controversy surrounding the 1978 World Cup was that Argentina had undergone a military coup of its democratic government only two years before the cup, which installed a dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process. Less than a year before the World Cup, in September 1977, Interior Minister General Albano Harguindeguy, stated that 5,618 people had recently disappeared. The infamous Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy (known by its acronym ESMA) held concentration camp prisoners of the Dirty War and those held captive reportedly could hear the roars of the crowd during matches held at River Plate's Monumental Stadium, located only a mile away;[6] prompting echoes of Hitler's and Mussolini's alleged political manipulation of sports during the 1936 Berlin Olympics and 1934 FIFA World Cup.[7] Because of the political turmoil, some countries, most notably the Netherlands, considered publicly whether they should participate in the event. Despite this, all teams eventually took part without restrictions. However, most notably, Dutch star Johan Cruyff, who won the Golden Ball in the previous 1974 FIFA World Cup, refused to take part in the 1978 World Cup, even though he earlier participated in the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification. Allegations that Cruyff refused to participate because of political convictions were denied by him 30 years later-he and his family had been the victims of a kidnapping attempt a few months before the tournament. Several criminals entered his house in Barcelona at night and tied him and his family up at gunpoint.[8] More controversy surrounded the host, Argentina, as all of their games in the first round kicked off at night, giving the Argentines the advantage of knowing where they stood in the group. This issue would arise again in Spain 1982, which prompted FIFA to change the rules so that the final two group games in subsequent World Cups would be played simultaneously.

Argentina's controversial and favorable decisions in their matches have caused many to view their eventual win as illegitimate; many cite the political climate and worldwide pressure on the Argentine government as the reason for these decisions. Desperate to prove their stability and prominence to the world after their coup two years earlier, the government used whatever means necessary to ensure that the team would progress far in the tournament.

Suspicions of match fixing arose even before the tournament began; Lajos Baróti, the head coach of Argentina's first opponents, Hungary, said that "everything, even the air, is in favor of Argentina".[9] He also talked about the financial imperative to have Argentina win the World Cup: "The success of Argentina is financially so important to the tournament".[9]

From Will Hersey's article "Remembering Argentina 1978: The Dirtiest World Cup of All Time":

The other teams in Argentina and Hungary's group were the much-fancied France and Italy, establishing the tournament's toughest qualifying section. After the victory against Hungary, one junta official remarked to Leopoldo Luque that "this could turn out to be the group of death as far as you are concerned." It was delivered with a smile. "Uppermost in my mind was that earlier that day, the brother of a close friend of mine had disappeared", recalled Luque. "His body was later found by villagers on the banks of the River Plate with concrete attached to his legs. At that time, opponents of the regime were sometimes thrown out of aeroplanes into the sea."[9]

In their second group stage game against France, Argentina were the beneficiaries of multiple favourable calls. After France was denied what looked to be a clear penalty in the first half, an anonymous French player claimed to have heard the referee tell Daniel Passarella (the player who committed the foul), "Don't do that again please, or I might have to actually give it next time."[10]

Further accusations have surrounded the game Argentina and Peru played in the second round of the tournament. Argentina needed to win by a margin of four goals to proceed to the final and did so by defeating Peru by 6–0. There were claims that the authoritarian Argentine military government interfered to ensure Argentina would defeat Peru through intimidation, though these were denied by the Peruvian captain and several Peruvian players.[11] Some accusations originated in the Brazilian media and pointed to the fact that the Peruvian goalkeeper had been born in Argentina.[12][13] There was also an alleged deal, reported by the British media as an anonymous rumour, that involved the delivery of a large grain shipment to Peru by Argentina and the unfreezing of a Peruvian bank account that was held by the Argentine Central Bank.[14] Another alleged deal, published by a Colombian drug lord in a controversial book, involved the Peruvian team being bribed without any political implications.[11] A third alleged deal, claimed by a Peruvian leftist politician, encompassed sending 13 Peruvian dissidents exiled in Argentina back to Peru.[15] The motives in each of these rumours are sprawling and at times contradictory, and no single claim has been substantiated with evidence.

Three months before the World Cup, Argentina had beaten Peru 3–1 in Lima, their head-to-head record was 15–3 in favour of the host nation, and Peru had never beaten Argentina away from home. However, Peru had conceded only six goals in their previous five games in the World Cup. During the first half, Peru hit the post twice after two counters when the game was 0–0. Argentina managed to get 2–0 ahead before the end of the first 45 minutes. During the second half, Argentina was 4–0 ahead when Peru had another clear chance. Argentina kept attacking and scored twice more, making it 6–0 and surpassing the required margin.

There was also some domestic controversy as well, as Argentine manager César Luis Menotti did not call up the then-17-year-old Argentinos Juniors local star Diego Maradona, for Menotti felt Maradona was too young to handle the pressures of such an important tournament on home soil and that the expectations of the team's performance would probably revolve around the Buenos Aires-born youngster.[16] In addition, Maradona's usual position of number 10 (play-making attacking midfielder) was taken by Mario Kempes, who ended up as the Best Player and Top Goal Scorer.

The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1974: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Each group played a round-robin with two points for a win and one for a draw, and goal difference used to separate teams level on points. The top two teams in each group would advance to the second round, where they would be split into two groups of four. The winners of each group would play each other in the final, and the second-place finishers in the third place match.

The official mascot of this World Cup was Gauchito, a boy wearing an Argentina kit. His hat (with the words ARGENTINA '78), neckerchief, and whip are typical of gauchos.

In 1972, eight venues were preselected; six that were used for the finals, plus La Plata and Tucuman. La Plata, the city of the diagonals, promised a "one-of-a-kind stadium" but by 1974 it was scrapped by internal bids. The Estadio Ciudad de La Plata was finally completed in 2003. In the case of Tucuman, an ambitious stadium of 70,000 spectators had been promised in Horco Molle, similar to the current Racing Club de Avellaneda stadium, along with the roof. The Tucuman venue was temporarily suspended in 1974 and was decommissioned the following year, given the intensity of the actions of the guerrillas and the Armed Forces in the province.[18] Three new stadiums were built (Estadio Chateau Carreras in Córdoba; Estadio José María Minella in Mar del Plata; and Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza in Mendoza) and the other three were remodelled.[4]

Of the six venues used, the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires was the largest and most used venue, hosting nine total matches, including the final. The Carreras Stadium in Cordoba hosted eight matches, the stadiums in Mendoza, Rosario and Mar del Plata each hosted six matches and José Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires hosted three matches — bringing the Argentine capital and largest city's total to 12 — nearly a third of all the matches played. The Minella stadium in Mar del Plata was heavily criticized due to its terrible pitch, which was deemed "nearly unplayable"; whereas the Amalfitani stadium in Buenos Aires, which was refurbished with the completion of press boxes and another section of upper stands but was the least used stadium for the tournament, was praised for its very good pitch.[19][20] Brazil was forced by tournament organizers to play all three of its first group matches in Mar del Plata; there had been rumors and allegations of the organizers deliberately sabotaging the Minella stadium's pitch to weaken Brazil's chances of success.

Buenos Aires, Federal District		Córdoba City, Córdoba
Estadio Monumental	José Amalfitani Stadium	Estadio Chateau Carreras
Capacity: 74,624	Capacity: 49,318	Capacity: 46,986
Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province	Buenos Aires Córdoba Mar del Plata Rosario Mendoza
Estadio José María Minella
Capacity: 43,542
Rosario, Santa Fe
Estadio Gigante de Arroyito
Capacity: 45,645
Mendoza City, Mendoza	Stadiums in Buenos Aires Monumental Amalfitani
Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza
Capacity: 34,954

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1978 FIFA World Cup squads.

With six goals, Mario Kempes was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 102 goals were scored by 62 players, with three of them credited as own goals.

6 goals

• Mario Kempes

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

• Andranik Eskandarian (against Scotland)
• Ernie Brandts (against Italy)
• Berti Vogts (against Austria)

• Tibor Nyilasi
• András Törőcsik
• Dick Nanninga

In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.[21][22] The rankings for the 1978 tournament were as follows:

R	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Result
1	1/B	Argentina	7	5	1	1	15	4	+11	11	Champion
2	4/A	Netherlands	7	3	2	2	15	10	+5	8	Runners-up
3	3/B	Brazil	7	4	3	0	10	3	+7	11	Third place
4	1/A	Italy	7	4	1	2	9	6	+3	9	Fourth place
5	2/B	Poland	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	7	Eliminated in the second group stage
6	2/A	West Germany	6	1	4	1	10	5	+5	6
7	3/A	Austria	6	3	0	3	7	10	−3	6
8	4/B	Peru	6	2	1	3	7	12	−5	5
9	2	Tunisia	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	3	Eliminated in the first group stage
10	3	Spain	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
11	4	Scotland	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	3
12	1	France	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	2
13	3	Sweden	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1
14	4	Iran	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1
15	1	Hungary	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0
16	2	Mexico	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

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• 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina, FIFA.com
• Details at RSSSF
• FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5), (Part 6) and (Part 7)