The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29
June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been
originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons,
was not able to do so and officially resigned in 1982. Mexico was selected as the new host
in May 1983. It was won by Argentina. Argentina was captained
by Diego Maradona, who scored the "Hand of God" goal, as well as another voted "Goal
of the Century", in the same quarter-final against England. These were two of the five
goals that Maradona scored during the tournament, and he also created another five for his team-mates.
Argentina beat West Germany 3–2 in the final at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca. Total attendance
was 2,393,031, an average per match of 46,019. Canada, Denmark and Iraq made their first
appearances at the final stage. The 1986 World Cup saw the appearance of the
phenomenon dubbed the Mexican wave, which was popularised world-wide after featuring
during the tournament. The format of the competition changed from
1982, with the second round being played on a knock-out basis rather than groups. The
24 teams qualified were divided into six groups of four. The top two teams and the four best
third place finishers from the six groups advanced to the knockout round of 16 teams.
It was the last FIFA World Cup where teams from the same continent were not fully separated
from each other in the draw for the first round. Under new rules after this competition,
each World Cup group had either two or three European teams. In 1986, Group B only had
one European team.
Host selection
Colombia was originally chosen as hosts by FIFA in June 1974. However, the Colombian
authorities eventually declared in November 1982 that they could not afford to host the
World Cup under the terms that FIFA demanded because of economic concerns. Mexico was selected
on 20 May 1983 as the replacement hosts, beating the bids of Canada and the United States,
and thereby became the first nation to host two World Cups. This second World Cup in Mexico
came 16 years after the first one in 1970. A severe earthquake in September 1985, eight
months before the tournament, cast doubt over Mexico's ability to organize the event, but
the stadia were not affected and it was decided to go ahead with the preparations.
As 1986 had been declared the International Year of Peace by the United Nations, the advertising
boards of all the stadia displayed the FIFA and United Nations logos along with the legend
"Football for Peace - Peace Year". For the design of the logo an unofficial motto
was adopted: "El Mundo Unido por Un Balón". Mascot
The official mascot of the 1986 World Cup was Pique, a jalapeño pepper, characteristic
of Mexican cuisine, with a moustache, a Colimote sombrero, and Mexican football team colours.
Its name comes from picante, Spanish for spicy peppers and sauces.
Qualification
Three teams qualified for the World Cup for the first time: Canada, Denmark and Iraq.
Canada clinched its spot after winning the final match against Honduras 2–1 in St.
John's, Newfoundland. Iraq played all their home matches on neutral ground because of
the Iran–Iraq War. South Korea qualified for the first time since 1954, Paraguay for
the first time since 1958, and Portugal for the first time since 1966. As of 2014, this
was the last time Hungary, Canada, Iraq or Northern Ireland qualified for the finals.
Venues Eleven cities hosted the tournament. Seeded
teams are in bold. Morocco and Portugal played in Guadalajara
while Spain and Algeria played in Monterrey.
Match officials Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1986 FIFA World
Cup squads. Seeding
Summary First round
The first round of the finals began in Group A, where Italy were held 1–1 by Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, Argentina beat South Korea 3–1, with Diego Maradona playing a major part.
Italy and Argentina drew 1–1, Maradona and Alessandro Altobelli scoring. South Korea
and Bulgaria also drew 1–1 in a downpour. The final set of matches saw Argentina beating
Bulgaria 2–0, and Italy narrowly defeating South Korea 3–2.
In Group B Mexico beat Belgium 2–1, and despite being held 1–1 by Paraguay, they
won the group after a further win over Iraq, 1–0. Paraguay and Belgium also progressed
after both beating Iraq and drawing with each other.
Group C pitted a strong Soviet Union side against the reigning European champions France.
They drew with each other 1–1, with a goal scored by Vasyl Rats. France beat Canada 1–0
and finished in 2nd place in the group after beating Hungary, 3–0. Hungary had earlier
lost 6–0 against the Soviet Union, which won the group due to goal differential.
Group D saw Brazil start against Spain, winning 1–0 after the referee failed to validate
a legal goal scored by Míchel. Northern Ireland began their campaign with a draw against Algeria.
Northern Ireland were then narrowly beaten by Spain before losing to Brazil 3–0 in
their final match. This match saw a goal from Josimar on his debut and was also the final
time Pat Jennings played for Northern Ireland. Spain qualified along with Brazil after defeating
Algeria 3–0. Denmark, stormed through Group E, dubbed the
group of death with a 100 per cent record. They beat Scotland 1–0 in their first game,
then hammered Uruguay 6–1, with Preben Elkjær Larsen hitting a hat-trick. Denmark beat one
of the favourites to win the tournament, West Germany, 2–0 thanks to a Jesper Olsen penalty
and a goal from John Eriksen. After losing to Denmark, Scotland took the lead against
West Germany thanks to a Gordon Strachan goal, but the West Germans fought back to win 2–1.
After a violent 0–0 draw against Uruguay, the Scots were eliminated from the tournament.
During that game José Batista of Uruguay was sent off after less than one minute of
play for a foul on Strachan, a World Cup record that still stands. West Germany went through
to the second round despite a loss against Denmark.
Morocco topped Group F after holding both Poland and England to goalless draws, and
beating Portugal 3–1. By doing so, they became the first African team, and only the
second nation from outside Europe and the Americas, to reach the second round. England
lost 1–0 to Portugal, followed by a 0-0 draw against Morocco in which they lost captain
Bryan Robson to injury and vice-captain Ray Wilkins to a red card. In their last first-round
game, with the captaincy taken over by Peter Shilton in goal, a first-half Gary Lineker
hat-trick helped the reshaped side beat Poland 3–0 - although losing yet another player
to a ban for the next round, Terry Fenwick receiving his second booking of the tournament.
Poland had previously beaten Portugal, and in the end the Portuguese were the only team
from Group F to be eliminated in the first round. Portugal, making their first appearance
in 20 years, went on strike during the competition. Players refused to train between their first
and second games and were eliminated after a loss to Morocco in the final group match.
Second round and quarter-finals Belgium beat the Soviet Union 4-3, despite
a hat-trick by the Soviets' Igor Belanov. The game was level at 2–2 after 90 minutes,
and in extra time Stephane Demol and Nico Claesen put Belgium 4–2 up. Belanov scored
from the penalty spot with nine minutes remaining, but neither he nor any of his team-mates could
find a fourth goal for the Soviet Union. In Mexico City, France, the European champions,
ended Italy's reign as world champions with a 2–0 victory thanks to goals from Michel
Platini and Yannick Stopyra. In the rematch of the 1930 FIFA World Cup Final, Argentina
just edged out South American champions Uruguay in Puebla thanks to a 42nd minute strike from
Pedro Pasculli. The all-South American affair had a Diego Maradona's goal disallowed.
In Querétaro, Denmark were eliminated as they went from a 1–0 lead to a 5–1 battering
against Spain; key player Frank Arnesen was suspended for the game after being sent off
against West Germany in their last group match, for taking a swipe at German playmaker Lothar
Matthäus. The Danes scored first, with a Jesper Olsen penalty, but they were then taken
apart by a devastating performance from Butragueño of Spain, who scored four of his team's five
goals. England progressed to the quarter-finals comfortably when they saw off Paraguay 3–0
while Brazil brushed aside Poland 4–0. West Germany had a much harder time getting past
Morocco, for whom goalkeeper Badou Zaki had an outstanding game. Morocco held out until
the 87th minute, when Lothar Matthäus scored the only goal of the match. Mexico won 2–0
against Bulgaria with an outstanding scissor-kick goal by Manuel Negrete which is honored by
a remembrance plaque at Estadio Azteca. In the quarter-finals, France faced three-time
world champion Brazil in Guadalajara. Brazil were well on top in the early stages, and
Careca put them one up after 18 minutes. Five minutes before half-time, France drew level
when Michel Platini scored his 41st goal after converting a cross from Dominique Rocheteau.
Brazil had a chance to regain the lead in the second half when Branco was fouled by
French keeper Joël Bats in the penalty area. Zico got up to take the kick, but Bats saved
Zico's penalty. The match went to extra time, and France finished
slightly the stronger of the two sides. No more goals were scored, and so it was time
for a penalty shoot-out. Socrates, who had earlier missed an open goal and headed an
easy chance straight into the French keeper's arms, failed with the first kick for Brazil.
The next six penalties were all converted, and then Platini fired over the bar. Brazil
were back on level terms – but not for long. Julio Cesar struck the post with his penalty,
and Luis Fernández then scored to put France through 4–3 on penalties.
Two other quarter-finals were also decided on penalties. Jan Ceulemans put Belgium ahead
against Spain in the 35th minute, but Spanish substitute Senor equalised with five minutes
to go. No more goals were scored in extra time, and Belgium won the shoot-out 5–4.
West Germany and Mexico drew 0–0 after extra time, and the West Germans eliminated the
hosts 4–1 on penalties. As a curiosity, the German goal-keeper Harald Schumacher jumped
to the right in the three Mexican penalties. The quarter-final between Argentina and England
featured two very different goals by Diego Maradona: the first was scored illegally,
as he punched the ball into the goal past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The referee
did not see the handball and the goal was given as valid. After the game, Maradona claimed
the goal was scored "A bit with the head of Maradona and another bit with the hand of
God"; it became known as the "Hand of God" goal. For his second goal, voted "Goal of
the Century" in 2002 on the FIFA website, Maradona dribbled half the length of the field
past five English players before scoring. With 20 minutes to go, the introduction of
John Barnes as a substitute changed the tide of play in England's favour, as he pinged
cross after cross into the Argentine penalty area: with 9 minutes to go, Lineker got on
the end of one and scored, then almost repeated the dose six minutes later but was just unable
to reach the ball thanks to a timely block by Olarticoechea: 2-1 to Argentina was the
final score. In Argentina, the game was seen as revenge for the Falklands War.
Semi-finals, third-place match, and final In the semi-finals, Andreas Brehme put West
Germany 1–0 ahead against France in the ninth minute, but the outcome remained in
doubt until two minutes from time when Rudi Völler made it 2–0, and West Germany were
in the final for the second World Cup in succession. In the other semi-final, Maradona struck twice
in the second half as Argentina beat Belgium 2–0. France went on to defeat Belgium in
the third-place match, 4-2. Jose Brown put Argentina one up midway through
the first half of the final, and when Jorge Valdano scored a second for the South Americans
in the 55th minute, Argentina looked to be strolling to victory. West Germany then staged
a spirited comeback. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge pulled one back in the 74th minute, and six
minutes later Rudi Völler hit the equaliser. With seven minutes remaining, a pass from
Maradona gave Jorge Burruchaga the chance to score the winner for Argentina. Eight years
on from their home triumph, Argentina regained the world title and 30 million people in Argentina
celebrated in the streets after the final victory. Maradona was the Golden Ball winner
as the best player of the tournament, while Gary Lineker of England won the Golden Boot
as the leading scorer of the World Cup with six goals.
Results
Group stage Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Ranking of third-placed teams Starting with the 1994 World Cup, teams were
awarded three points for a win rather than two, to encourage more offensive tactics.
Had those rules been in place, Hungary would have finished ahead of Bulgaria for the 15th
seed, and Uruguay would have been eliminated. The top four teams qualified for the knockout
stage. Knockout stage
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Awards Source:
Goalscorers 6 goals
Gary Lineker 2 goals
1 goal Own goals
László Dajka Cho Kwang-rae
Players who were red-carded during the tournament Mike Sweeney
Frank Arnesen Ray Wilkins
Thomas Berthold Basil Gorgis
Javier Aguirre José Batista
Miguel Bossio FIFA Retrospective Ranking
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.
The rankings for the 1986 tournament were as follows:
References ^ "1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico – Overview".
FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
^ "1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
Retrieved 15 June 2014. ^ Jackson, Andy. "...Fan Crazes". FourFourTwo.
Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
^ Rice, Simon. "The 100 greatest World Cup moments". The Independent. Retrieved 25 August
2011. ^ El Diego - Diego Maradona, Page 127, ISBN
0-224-07190-4 ^ "1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico – Awards".
FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on
10 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013. ^ FIFA World Cup - Mexico '86: Official Report,
p. 228 ^ "HUNGARY - CANADA". Planet World Cup. Retrieved
19 December 2011. ^ "DENMARK - WEST GERMANY". Planet World Cup.
Retrieved 15 June 2014. ^ "ENGLAND - MOROCCO". Planet World Cup. Retrieved
15 June 2014. ^ a b "WEST GERMANY - MEXICO". Planet World
Cup. Retrieved 15 June 2014. ^ "IRAQ - BELGIUM". Planet World Cup. Retrieved
15 June 2014. ^ "SCOTLAND - URUGUAY". Planet World Cup.
Retrieved 15 June 2014. ^ "DENMARK - URUGUAY". Planet World Cup. Retrieved
15 June 2014. ^ Argentina's Road to the World Title FIFA.com.
page 45 External links
1986 FIFA World Cup FIFA.com 1986 World Cup Details RSSSF
History of the World Cup-1986 Mexico 1986 Planet World Cup