The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup ( Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was a friendly international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organized by the

Uruguayan Football Association The Uruguayan Football Association ( es, Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol — ) is the governing body of football in Uruguay. It was founded in 1900, as The Uruguayan Association Football League, and affiliated to FIFA in 1923. It is a founding me ...

and supported by FIFA–although not officially recognized–in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first FIFA World Cup, which had been celebrated in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

at the same venue. It was held at the

Centenario Stadium Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Uru ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, from 30 December 1980 to 10 January 1981. The tournament gathered the national teams of Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, and Argentina,Mundialito 1980
by Martín Tabeira on the RSSSF the six World Cup-winning nations at the time, with the addition of the Netherlands –

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

World Cup runners-up– who had been invited to replace England, who declined the invitation due to an already crowded fixture list. The World Champions' Gold Cup was held in the middle of the European football season (December/January) and the English league (as well as its clubs) were reluctant to release their players for a long journey to another continent.

Participating teams

Format

The six teams were distributed in two groups of three: Group A was composed of the Netherlands, Italy, and Uruguay; Group B consisted of Argentina, Brazil, and West Germany. The winners of each group faced each other to decide the tournament winner.

Squads

Each team had a squad of 18 players (two of which had to be goalkeepers).

Outcome

Uruguay and Brazil won their respective groups and played the final, with Uruguay defeating Brazil 2–1 with a late goal, the same result that had occurred 30 years earlier between the two teams in the deciding match of the

1950 World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. Uruguay's coach during the Mundialito,

Roque Máspoli Roque Gastón Máspoli Arbelvide (12 October 1917 in Montevideo – 22 February 2004 in Montevideo) was a Uruguayan football player and coach. He was the goalkeeper for the Uruguay national team that won the 1950 World Cup. He was also the h ...

, had also been Uruguay's goalkeeper in the 1950 match. Dutch manager Jan Zwartkruis resigned from his position as soon as he returned to the Netherlands, while

Leopoldo Luque Leopoldo Jacinto Luque (; (3 May 1949 – 15 February 2021) was an Argentine footballer who played as a striker. Club career In a career spanning from 1972 to 1984 he played for Unión de Santa Fe, Rosario Central, River Plate, Racing Club de ...

and

Rainer Bonhof Rainer Bonhof (born 29 March 1952) is a German former professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder or wing-back. He was known for his occasional bursts upfield and his fierce shot. He was a key player for the 1974 West Germa ...

never represented their country again.

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Final

Scorers

;3 goals *

Waldemar Victorino Waldemar Victorino (born 22 May 1952, in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a forward; he played football in 6 countries: Uruguay, Colombia, Italy, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru. Victorino is famous for scoring the winning ...

;1 goal * Ramón Díaz * Diego Maradona * Edevaldo * Junior * Serginho * Sócrates * Toninho Cerezo * Zé Sérgio * Klaus Allofs * Horst Hrubesch * Jan Peters * Carlo Ancelotti * Jorge Barrios * Julio Morales *

Venancio Ramos Venancio Ariel Ramos Villanueva (born 20 June 1959) is a Uruguayan former football striker, who was nicknamed "Chicharra" during his professional career. Club career Ramos started his playing career in 1977 with Peñarol with whom he won severa ...

;Own goals * Manfred Kaltz (against Argentina)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mundialito

1980 Mundialito The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was a friendly international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and sup ...

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