World Cup Wonderland

Eighty years, 18 World Cups, a million memories

70: Meet the best winners ever

Fancy meeting the Brazil 1970 team? That was Paul Joseph 's job – and it wasn't always the kind of fun you might expect... In July 2006, specialist ‘Big Book’ publishers Gloria launched their authorised...
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82: All white at the back

The people of New Zealand could be excused for currently being gripped by World Cup fever after their side's 1-1 draw with Slovakia on Tuesday, but this isn't the first time the All Whites have...
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38: The best WC game you never saw

The greatest World Cup game you’ve probably never heard of Every World Cup is preceded by an epidemic of lists. The joy of six, the 10 greatest, five reasons why... and I’m a sucker for them, though I...
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66: It's football, but is it art? Er, yes

You've heard of ProZone and Opta boffins tracing every player's movement, for the sake of managerial insight and pub ammo. Such careful analysis is certainly scientific, but is it art? As so often...
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98: What happened next for the winners?

For the first time in five tournaments the host nation triumphed - but what became of Les Bleus' Rainbow Warriors ? Goalkeeper: Fabien Barthez Barthez, who holds the record for most World Cup finals...
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98: Bold, bald, Becks & Bergkamp

During France 98, the world witnessed the birth of Michael Owen. Not literally, of course, as that would be hideous. That summer, his pace and a striker’s instinct Emile Heskey can only dream about made...
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98: What hit Ronaldo before the final?

Nobody really knows what happened with Ronaldo before the 1998 World Cup final. But that hasn’t stopped the wild speculation, from conspiracy theorists to shock-jocks, politicians and team-mates… Edmundo...
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98: Allez Les Bleus - the multiracial Rainbow Warriors

The inside story of how a divided nation united behind a victorious team with a little help from Jacques Chirac, Gloria Gaynor and some Zidane fella… Just days before France’s opening game of the 1998...
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98: England-Argentina – War minus the shooting

Great goals, seminal sendings off, penalty heartbreak, Mick Jagger: England vs Argentina had everything. Those involved tell Paul Simpson the story... "After tonight, England v Argentina will be remembered...
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98: The most politically charged game in World Cup history

Neil Billingham looks at how one World Cup group game did more to repair relations between two nations than decades of diplomacy When the draw for the 1998 World Cup pulled together the USA and Iran in...
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98: Bonjour! France return from the World Cup wilderness

The sixteenth World Cup was staged on an infinitely bigger and grander scale than any before: France 98 provided all the passion, excitement and controversy that makes the competition such a special, magical...
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94: What happened to Brazil's World Cup winners?

They may not have boasted the household names of the 1982 squad, but who got the winner's medals? Goalkeeper: CLAUDIO TAFFAREL The penalty-saving keeper remained No.1 for another four years – and in...
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94: Boring, boring... Brazil?!?

After 24 years of glorious failures, Brazil finally captured a record fourth World Cup. So why was there so little love at home for the 1994 champions? Brazil captain Dunga climbs up the stairs of the...
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94: Bulgaria’s Big American Adventure!

Humiliating losses, memorable victories, spectacular goals and even a spot of illegal immigration: Bulgaria's route to the World Cup semis was anything but dull... Bulgaria’s 1994 American adventure...
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94: What really went wrong with Colombia

A 5-0 thumping of Argentina in qualifying gave Colombia a reputation they just couldn’t live up to, reveals Henry Mance . Forget the ‘Hand of God’. For Colombians, Maradona’s most famous mitt movement...
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94: Aggro, anger & antics in America

Maybe it was the heat. But 1994 was a year for rag-losing, nut-doing and violent meltdowns… Maradona’s potty celebrations – and doping shame The Argentine demigod really was a very naughty boy throughout...
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94: The biggest shock & best game

Biggest Shock: Italy 0 Republic of Ireland 1, Group E Neither the Irish nor the Italian camps were particularly harmonious going into their first World Cup fixture, in New York. Arrigo Sacchi might have...
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94: How remortgaging a house saved the World Cup

It almost never happened. But off the back of one man's mortgage, the USA put on a record-breaking World Cup that changed football forever. Jamie Trecker tells the inside story... It’s safe to say...
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90: What happened to West Germany's World Cup winners?

The West Germany side that enjoyed victory in in Rome 20 years ago had varying levels of success since lifting the cup, Ulrich Hesse tells us more... Goalkeeper: BODO ILLGNER The first man to keep a clean...
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90: New-look England embrace the future

If Gary Lineker wasn’t so greedy, England might never have entranced us at Italia 90. Stuart Pearce was England’s official penalty taker but a few weeks before the 1990 World Cup Lineker asked England...
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78: Boney, baldy, bendy and bonkers

Kicking off as Boney M’s Rivers of Babylon stood at No.1 in the charts, Argentina 78 was a mysterious wonderland of ticker tape, cigarette-smoking managers, exotic kits, unrecognisable names and great...
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90: The lost brilliance of Yugoslavia

Ivica Osim seems like an old man now, weakened by the stroke that put an end to his reign as coach of Japan in 2007, and reflective on his life and what his legacy may be. “When I lie in bed not sleeping...
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90: The c**k-ups

You could still get away with a bit of old-fashioned, moronic racism back in 1990. “I’ll only get into trouble if his mother's back home watching the game sitting up a tree,” blabbered enlightenment...
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90: The age of the great goalkeeper

The general consensus is that World Cup 1990 was a stinker. Beyond memorable moments from Milla, Gazza and Schillaci, the tournament was plagued by dishwater-dull, defensive games and a chronic lack of...
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90: A big shock, a great grudgefest and a dodgy drink

Right from the start, Italia 90 had its fair share of noteworthy games – from cup shocks to clashing giants and an intrigue-filled derby clash... BIGGEST SHOCK Cameroon 1-0 Argentina As the teams gathered...
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90: Italia – arias, stadia and Draconia

Italia 90 was hardly a festival of flowing football – but, writes Chris Hunt , it changed the way we watch the game In many ways the 1990 World Cup failed to live up to the hype. The football was often...
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86: What Happened Next for the winners?

The 1986 champions are often derided as Diego Maradona plus 10 others, but proud Argentinian Martin Mazur brings you right up to date... Goalkeeper: NERY PUMPIDO A year after winning the World Cup, he...
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86: The gamble that won the World Cup

Argentina arrived a divided team with their coach about to be fired, but then, writes Chris Hunt , a brave decision to make Maradona skipper made all the difference. In the dressing room of the Azteca...
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86: The best team never to reach a World Cup semi

They cruised through the ‘group of death’ with their breaktaking brand of total football, but, asks Rob Smyth, were Sepp Piontek’s laid-back legends the best team ever not to reach the quarter-finals?...
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86: Lineker – 'My World Cup in pictures'

Gary Lineker won the Golden Boot at Mexico 86 with six goals for England. FourFourTwo went through the photo album with him... “Not a grey hair in sight! I look at this and think that I’d have been a better...
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86: The best teams' worst shootout ever

There are games of great technical merit, there are games of high drama, and very occasionally, there are games that have both. This was one of them. It brought some redress from the fates to France for...
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86: “Uday Hussein shaved my perm"

It is a very modern managerial conundrum, made prescient in the age of bottle-fed prima donnas that seem to place club paymasters over national glory: How do you motivate your players when they play for...
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86: The dirtiest game and the seven-goal thriller

Jose Batista was at the peak of his career when he played at Mexico 86. The left-back, then 24, had set up one goal and scored another, from a free-kick, in the win over Chile that qualified Uruguay for...
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86: OLÉ! The chaotic story behind a World Cup that had everything

It shouldn't even have been staged there, but World Cup 86 in Mexico had everything, most of it revolving around a diminutive genius by the name of Diego Maradona - Chris Hunt sets the scene... Born...
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82: The original and harshest Group Of Death

The holders, the triple champions and the eventual winners: now that, says FFT.com's Professor Champions League , is a proper Group of Death... “It smells of sh*t in here,” said some of the Italian...
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82: The most amusingly disorganised World Cup ever

The 12th edition of the global game's get-together had more than its share of oopsies… THE DRAW SPECIALISTS Somebody had clearly been at the Rioja in Madrid before the World Cup draw. In a farcical...
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82: Ten of the best for Hungary as El Salvador suffer day of shame

It’s a score that should only happen in playgrounds, but behind El Salvador’s World Cup record rout was a farcical tale of civil war, corruption, disorganisation and schoolboy defending – Martin Mazur...
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82: The most memorable matches of the 1982 World Cup in Spain

BEST GAME West Germany 3-3 France (aet, West Germany win 5-4 on penalties) Semi-final West Germany had only got through their first-stage group with a contrived win over Austria, and their football throughout...
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82: ¡Viva Espana!

According to Professor Champions League , we all have a formative World Cup that we remember as "ours". It's the one that made us realise football is a visceral thrill for the majority of...
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