History of World Cup 1962

Winners: Brazil

Teams: 16

Teams in qualifiers: 56
Notable absentees Sweden
Surprises Colombia
Golden Boot Garrincha, Vavá (Brazil), Leonel Sánchez (Chile), Drazan Jerkovic (Yugoslavia), Flórián Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (USSR) - 4
Stats A total of 89 goals were scored (2.78 per match); Brazil (14) scored the most
Format Four groups of four, with the top two progressing to the quarter-finals

Number of matches 32

Innovations
• For once, FIFA resisted the temptation to tinker

Controversies
• Brazil's Garrincha was sent off in the semi-finals and should have missed the final but the Brazilian FA managed to get his ban overturned by FIFA, who justified its decision on the grounds the player had been provoked by the crowd
• The tournament was marred by a string of ill-tempered games in the group stage, the worst being the infamous 'Battle of Santiago' between Italy and hosts Chile. "I wasn't reffing a football match," referee Ken Aston said. "I was acting as an umpire in military manoeuvres"

Trivia
• Two years before the start, Chile was hit by a massive earthquake. The president of the organising committee said: "Because we don't have anything, we will do everything in our power to rebuild." And they did
• This World Cup was the last that was not televised live in Europe, just predating the arrival of the Telstar satellite

After two World Cup championships in Europe, FIFA decided that South America would be the host continent, and it was a straight shoot-out between Chile and Argentina.

When Chile was wracked by earthquakes that killed thousands in 1960, Argentina looked favourites. But an impassioned call by President Dittborn won the day and the country's regeneration was led by the building of new stadiums in time for the tournament.

Brazil, on somewhere approaching home soil and with almost the same squad as four years before, were undoubtedly favourites. Pelé, still only 21, had become the complete forward and Garrincha's development trajectory had been similar.

Sweden, meanwhile, had been the highest-profile victims of a new qualifying process from which England had been the sole 'home nation' qualifiers. England qualified for the second round as runners-up to a Hungarian team that, in Florian Albert, had a player with many of the qualities of the 'Marvellous Magyars' of 1954. He scored the winner in the two nations' group meeting.

Brazil eased out of their group, but not without cost. Pelé, who had been in shining form in the 2-0 opening win over Mexico, ripped a thigh muscle in the 0-0 draw with Czechoslovakia. He was to play no further part in the finals. Amarildo, however, was a decent replacement and became known as the 'White Pelé' for his efforts during the tournament. Garrincha and Vavá were also there to take up the goalscoring burden.

The Chilean World Cup is now recognised as being one of the poorest tournaments in terms of football, a legacy in which no small a part was played by the disgraceful scenes that took place in Santiago when Chile met Italy. The game erupted into a flurry of kicks and punches and, though two Italians were sent off, it should have been many more. 'The Battle of Santiago' ended in a 2-0 victory for the hosts and a police escort for the players as they left the field prematurely.

England met their nemesis in Garrincha in the quarter-finals. West Germany lost to Yugoslavia in revenge for successive quarter-final defeats in the last two tournaments as Sekularac pulled the strings. The Czechs, marshalled by left-half and captain Josef Masopust, squeezed past the Hungarians. In another surprise result for the hosts, they managed to beat highly-fancied Soviet Union.

But there was to be no fairy story in the semi-final as the tried and tested combination of Garrincha and Vavá scored two goals each against them. For Garrincha, however, heartbreak looked in store after he was sent off for retaliation. Somehow, and perhaps with not a little greasing of palms, the Brazilian FA managed to get his ban for the final overturned by FIFA.

The Czechs were their final opponents, having beaten Yugoslavia in the semi-final with a late surge in the last ten minutes. And a shock looked on the cards when Masopust made a burst past his attackers to put his team ahead on 15 minutes. It was not for long, though, as Amarildo rose to the occasion to score from a seemingly impossible angle.

Czechoslovakia held on gamely and it would take a fantastic move started and finished by Zito in the 68th minute to break them. Vavá then became the first person to score in two finals when he capitalised on a goalkeeping mistake from Schrojf. The cup was Brazil's again. They had become only the second team to retain the trophy and it had largely been achieved without Pelé.

Considering that Italy's double win of the 1930s was achieved at a time of stay-aways and pull-outs, no team had ever dominated the world scene like this before.