FIFA World Cup

Season Description
The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in the final held in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. It was Italy's third World Cup title, but their first since 1938. The defending champions, Argentina, were eliminated in the second round (finishing third and last in their group). Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand made their first appearances in the finals.

The tournament featured the first penalty shootout in World Cup competition. This was the third and last World Cup to feature two rounds of group stages. It was also the third time (after 1934 and 1966) that all four semi-finalists were European.

In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory recorded in the finals (Hungary over South Korea 9–0 in 1954, and Yugoslavia over Zaire 9–0 in 1974).

Although successful and filled with compelling and entertaining matches, this tournament also was blighted by violent fouls, some poor officiating, some overcrowded stadiums, very hot weather in some cities and alleged collusion between teams. One particular incident of note was West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher's foul of French player Patrick Battiston during a semi-final match in Seville, and another was Italian player Claudio Gentile's intense and often violent match-long fouling and marking of Argentine player Diego Maradona. FIFA changed the regulations to somewhat prevent this kind of brutality on the pitch for the subsequent tournament in Mexico.

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