1990 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup of 1990 was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football competition. It was held from 8 June until 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams from 116 national football associations entered, and the qualification started in April 1988. Through this process, twenty-two teams emerged along with host nation Italy and defending champions Argentina. West Germany won the tournament, which is their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, a repeat in the previous final four years ago. Italy finished third and England finished fourth despite both losing their semi-finals in penalty shoots. It was the last tournament that featured a West Germany team, with the country reunified with East Germany a few months later in October, as well as Eastern Bloc teams before the end of the Cold War in 1991, when the Soviet Union, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia teams made their appearances. The first Final appearances were made by Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE. It was the last time since 2018 that the UAE has qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals. Adidas Etrusco Unico was official ball for the match. As for the football, the 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the worst World Cups. This resulted in an average of 2.2 goals per game – a record low that is still standing – and 16 red cards including the first ever final dismissal. Considered to be the World Cup that undoubtedly had the most lasting effect on the game as a whole, it saw the Fair Play Flag pre-match being introduced to encourage fair play. Defensive tactics led to the introduction of the backpass rule in 1992 and to three points instead of two for a victory in the forthcoming World Cups. In addition to what has become the soundtrack of the World Cup, the tournament has produced some of the World Cup's best-remembered moments and stories including the emergence of African nations: "Nessun dorma" The 1990 World Cup ranks among the most watched events in the history of television, garnering an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers over the duration of the tournament. This was the first World Cup to be officially filmed and broadcast by Italian broadcaster RAI in HDTV in cooperation with Japan's NHK. The immense success of the broadcast model has also had a profound impact on the sport. At the time, it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers but it was improved by the 1994 and 2002 World Cups. In 1990 twelve stadiums in twelve cities were chosen to host World Cup matches. Bari's San Nicola Stadium and Turin's Stadio delle Alpi have become brand new stadiums set up for World Cup. Just two of the twelve stadia used for the 1934 FIFA World Cup had been used. FIFA also found the seeds a secondary consideration dependent on the nations 'participation in the 1986 World Cup with World Cup 1982 in particular. Six of the final eight in 1986 had qualified for the tournament in 1990, with Mexico and France absent. Italy – first seeded as hosts – had not reached the final eight in 1986, leaving FIFA in need of eliminating one of the three quarter-finals excluded in 1986: Brazil, England or Spain. Cameroon had reached the quarter-finals where they were narrowly defeated by England. They ended the tournament with a surprise victory over the defending champions of Argentina, before leading the group ahead of them, Romania's Soviet Union runners-up and the European Championship. The success was shot by the goals of Roger Milla, a 38-year-old forward who came out of international retirement to join the national squad at the last minute following a personal appeal from Cameroonian president Paul Biya.