List of 1994 FIFA World Cup matches
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The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States was chosen as the
host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...
by
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
on July 4, 1988. Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history. It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3,587,538 and an average of 68,991 per game, marks that stood unsurpassed as of 2022 despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the
1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
. Brazil were crowned the winners after defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...
near Los Angeles, after the game had ended 0–0 after
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
. It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. There were three new entrants in the tournament: Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia; Russia also appeared as a separate nation for the first time, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and for the first time since 1938, a unified Germany took part in the tournament. They were also defending champions, but were eliminated in quarter-finals by Bulgaria. It was the first World Cup where three points were awarded for a victory instead of two and also the first with the
back-pass rule In association football, the back-pass rule prohibits the goalkeeper from handling the ball in most cases when it is passed to them by a team-mate. It is described in Law 12, Section 2 of the Laws of the Game. Award Goalkeepers are normally all ...
. This was done to encourage a more attacking style of soccer as a response to the criticism of the defensive tactics and low-scoring matches of the
1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...
. This resulted in an average of 2.71 goals per match.


Background and preparations


Bidding process

Three nations bid for host duties: United States, Brazil, and Morocco. The vote was held in Zurich on July 4, 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the FIFA Executive Committee members. FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport. An inspection committee also found that the proposed Brazilian stadiums were deficient, while the Moroccan bid relied on the construction of nine new stadiums. Conversely, all the proposed stadiums in the United States were already built and fully functioning; US Soccer spent $500 million preparing and organizing the tournament, far less than the billions other countries previously had spent and subsequently would spend on preparing for this tournament. The U.S. bid was seen as the favorite and was prepared in response to losing the right to be the replacement host for the 1986 tournament following Colombia's withdrawal. One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league –
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. There was some initial controversy about awarding the World Cup to a country where soccer was not a nationally popular sport, and at the time, in 1988, the U.S. no longer had a professional league; the
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
, established in 1967, had folded in 1984 after attendance faded. The success of the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
in Los Angeles, particularly the
soccer tournament This is a list of the association football competitions past and present for international teams and for club football, in individual countries and internationally. Confirmed future competitions are also included. The competitions are grouped b ...
that drew 1.4 million spectators throughout the event, also contributed to FIFA's decision. The United States had previously bid to host the
1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...
, after Colombia withdrew as the host nation in November 1982 because of economic concerns. Despite a presentation led by former
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
players
Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
and
Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
, as well as former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the executive committee selected Mexico. There were proposals by
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
to introduce larger goals and breaks after every quarter instead of just at half-time in order to appease US television advertisers. These proposals were met with resistance, and ultimately rejected.


Venues

The games were played in nine cities across the
contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
. All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53,000, and their usual tenants were professional or college American football teams. Other considered venues in other major cities across the United States such as Atlanta, Denver,
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Seattle and
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
were not used, as well as venues in smaller towns such as
Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
, Maryland;
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...
, Ohio; Corvallis, Oregon; and New Haven, Connecticut. Several venues, including Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and Candlestick Park in San Francisco, were rejected because of conflicts with Major League Baseball, so Stanford Stadium, southeast of San Francisco was used, and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando was picked over Miami's two submitted venues (the Orange Bowl, the other Miami venue, required major renovations to meet tournament standards). The venue used most was the Rose Bowl in
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...
, with eight games, among them one round of 16 game, a semi-final, the third-place game, and the final. Giants Stadium near New York hosted seven games including a semi-final; Boston (Foxborough), San Francisco (Stanford), and Dallas hosted six games each and Chicago, Washington, and Orlando each hosted five games. The least used was the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup, with four group stage games. The Pontiac Silverdome was also the only venue of the nine used that did not host any knockout round games. Because of the large area of the continental United States, the game locations were often far apart. Some teams in Groups A and B had to travel from Los Angeles or San Francisco all the way to Detroit and back again, covering and four time zones. The teams in Groups C and D only played in Foxborough (Boston), Chicago, and Dallas—a trip from Boston to Dallas is , but only covers two time zones; Chicago is in the same time zone as Dallas but is still away from both Dallas and Boston. The teams in Groups E and F had it a bit easier—they played exclusively in New York (East Rutherford), Washington, and Orlando, which, while far apart, were at least all in the same time zone. A few teams, such as Cameroon and Colombia, did not have to travel to cities across the country to play games. The variety of climate in different cities all over the United States also sometimes made playing conditions challenging. Aside from the oceanic coolness of Boston (Foxborough), the Mediterranean climate of San Francisco (Stanford), and occasionally the coolness of Chicago, as they had been in Mexico in 1970 and 1986 most matches were played in hot and/or humid conditions, thanks to nearly all of the games being scheduled to be played during the day instead of at night in order to suit a time difference compromise for television in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; this had always been done every time a World Cup was held in the Americas. Although playing in the mostly dry heat and smoggy conditions of Los Angeles (Pasadena) and the mixture of heat and humidity of Washington and New York sometimes proved to be difficult, the cities with the most consistently oppressive conditions were Orlando and Dallas in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, because of the combination of heat and extreme humidity. The Floridian tropical climate of Orlando meant all games there were played in temperatures of or above with dew points above 70 or more (the temperature there during the group stage game between Mexico and Ireland was ) due to the mid-day start times. Dallas was not much different: in the humid heat of a Texas summer, temperatures exceeded during mid-day, when games there were staged in the open-type Cotton Bowl meant that conditions were just as oppressive there as they were in Orlando. Detroit also proved to be difficult: the Pontiac Silverdome did not have a working cooling system and because it was an air-supported stadium, the air could not escape through circulation, so temperatures inside the stadium would climb past with 40% humidity. United States midfielder
Thomas Dooley Thomas Dooley (born May 12, 1961) is an American former soccer player and coach. He played as a defender and defensive midfielder and was a long-time member and former captain of the United States national team. Dooley recently served as the ...
described the Silverdome as "the worst place I have ever played at". Of these nine stadiums, all but one have since been either demolished and replaced by other stadia, or have been moderately or heavily modified. The Pontiac Silverdome, Giants Stadium, and Foxboro Stadium have been demolished, and RFK Stadium is no longer in use and is slated for demolition by 2023. Stanford Stadium, the Cotton Bowl, the Citrus Bowl (Camping World Stadium), and Soldier Field have all been moderately or heavily modified. The Rose Bowl is the only largely unmodified stadium that was used for this tournament.


Participating teams and officials


Qualification

Three teams: one African, one Asian, and one European, made their debuts at the 1994 tournament. Nigeria qualified from the African zone alongside Cameroon and Morocco as CAF was granted three spots as a result of the strong performances by African teams in
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
and
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
. In the Asian zone, Saudi Arabia qualified for the first time by topping the final round group ahead of South Korea as both edged out
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, who was close to making its own World Cup debut, but was denied by Iraq in what became known as the "
Agony of Doha In the final round of matches of the final round of Asian qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Japan and Iraq drew 2–2 in Doha, Qatar. If Japan had won the match, they would have qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Instead, J ...
". In the European zone, Greece made their first World Cup appearance after topping a group from which Russia also qualified, competing independently for the first time after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the
1938 World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...
. Norway qualified for the first time since 1938,
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
for the first time since
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
(and the last time as of 2022), and
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
for the first time since
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
. Norway's 56-year gap between appearances in the final tournament equaled Egypt's record in the previous tournament as the longest. This record was later broken by Wales when they qualified for the 2022 tournament, after a 64 year absence. Mexico had its first successful qualification campaign since
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 ...
, failing to qualify in
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
, qualifying as hosts in
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
and being banned for the Cachirules scandal in
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
. The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993, completing its qualifying group under the name "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks" (RCS), but failed to qualify for the finals, having been edged out by Romania and Belgium in Group 4. Yugoslavia (which was supposed to play in Group 5) was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chile's suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the forced interruption of their qualification game against Brazil, extended to the 1994 qualifiers as well. This was the first World Cup since World War II in which none of the UK Home Nations of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales qualified (they withdrew their FIFA memberships between 1928 and 1946, during the first three tournaments), with England (finishing third behind Norway and Netherlands in
Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to: * Alkaline earth metal, a chemical element classification * Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962 * Group 2 (racing), an FIA classification for cars in a ...
) missing out after having finished fourth in the 1990 tournament, and Scotland (who finished fourth in Group 1) failing to qualify for the first time since
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
. France, who had been already designated as hosts of the 1998 tournament, also missed out following surprise home losses to Israel and Bulgaria. This was the second World Cup in a row for which France had failed to qualify, and the last one to date not to feature England, France, and Japan. Other notable absentees were 1986 and 1990 Round of 16 participants Uruguay, UEFA Euro 1992 champions Denmark, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal and Hungary.


List of qualified teams

The following 24 teams, shown with their pre-tournament FIFA World Ranking from June 1994, qualified for the final tournamentː ; AFC (2) *  (34) *  (37) ; CAF (3) *  (24) *  (28) *  (11) ; OFC (0) * ''None qualified'' ; CONCACAF (2) *  (16) *  (23) (hosts) ;
CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
(4) *  (8) *  (3) *  (43) *  (17) ; UEFA (13) *  (27) *  (29) *  (1) *  (31) *  (4) *  (2) *  (6) *  (14) *  (7) *  (19) *  (5) *  (10) *  (12)


Squads

Teams were selected following usual FIFA rules with 22 players. Greece, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Spain were the only countries that had all their players coming from domestic teams, while the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria had no players from domestic teams. Saudi Arabia was the only team with no players from European teams.


Referees

; CAF *
Lim Kee Chong An Yan Lim Lim Kee Chong (born May 15, 1960) is a retired Mauritian association football referee. He is mostly known for supervising two matches in the FIFA World Cup - a Group B first-round match between Brazil and Russia in 1994 and a Group G fi ...
* Neji Jouini ; AFC * Jamal Al Sharif *
Ali Bujsaim Ali Mohamed Bujsaim ( ar, علي بوجسيم, born September 9, 1959 in Dubai) is a retired association football referee from the United Arab Emirates, who is best known for supervising matches at three FIFA World Cups: 1994 (two matches), 1998 (t ...
; UEFA *
Fabio Baldas Fabio Baldas (born 19 March 1949 in Trieste) is a former association football Referee (association football), referee from Italy. He is mostly known for supervising one match in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, the first-round Group ...
*
Manuel Díaz Vega Manuel Díaz Vega (born 1 September 1954 in Salas, Asturias) is a Spanish retired football referee. He officiated one match in both the 1994 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1996. He also refereed the 1996 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventu ...
*
Philip Don Philip Don (born 10 March 1952) is a former football referee and school headteacher from England. Don was originally from Sheffield but his teaching career took him south to Middlesex. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in ...
*
Bo Karlsson Bo Jonas Hilding Karlsson (born 12 October 1949) is a former football referee from Sweden. He refereed one match at the 1992 European Championships and one match at the 1994 World Cup. He also refereed the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup Final b ...
* Hellmut Krug * Peter Mikkelsen *
Leslie Mottram Leslie William Mottram (born 5 March 1951) is a Scottish retired football referee best known for supervising two matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. Mottram also officiated at UEFA Euro 1996 in England, including the semifina ...
*
Pierluigi Pairetto Pierluigi Pairetto (born 15 July 1952 in Turin) is an Italian former football referee. Among the many prestigious games he officiated were the Euro 96 final between Germany and the Czech Republic at Wembley, and the classic USA 94 second-round c ...
*
Sándor Puhl Sándor Puhl (14 July 1955 – 20 May 2021) was a Hungarian football referee, mostly known for supervising four matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, including the final between Brazil and Italy. He also refereed UEFA Champio ...
*
Joël Quiniou Joël Quiniou (born 11 July 1950) is a former football referee from France. He is best known for supervising eight matches in the FIFA World Cup, one in 1986, three in 1990 and four in 1994. Career He supervised eight matches in the FIFA World C ...
* Kurt Röthlisberger *
Mario van der Ende Mario van der Ende (born March 28, 1956, in The Hague, South Holland) is a retired football referee and coordinator from the Netherlands. He is mostly known for supervising five matches in the FIFA World Cup: three in 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1994 and ...
; CONCACAF *
Arturo Angeles Arturo Angeles (born September 12, 1953) is a retired soccer referee from the United States. He supervised one match (Argentina–Greece) during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in his native country. Biography Angeles was born in Mexico City.
*
Rodrigo Badilla Rodrigo Sequeira Badilla (born June 22, 1957) is a retired football (soccer) referee from Costa Rica, best known for supervising three matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States: The Group D Nigeria-Bulgaria match, the Grou ...
*
Arturo Brizio Carter Arturo Brizio Carter (born 9 March 1956) is a Mexican former association football referee. He is mostly known for supervising six matches in the FIFA World Cup, three each in 1994 and 1998. He gave seven red cards ( a record for the tournament) ...
;
CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
* José Torres Cadena *
Ernesto Filippi Ernesto Filippi Cavani (born 26 October 1950 in Lucca, Italy) is a former Uruguayan football referee. He is known for supervising one match during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA ...
*
Francisco Oscar Lamolina Francisco Oscar ''Pancho'' Lamolina (born October 25, 1950). is a former football (soccer) referee from Argentina. He was an official at 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was known in Argentine First Division for his ''laissez-faire'' style into the field ...
*
Renato Marsiglia Renato Marsiglia (born 3 June 1951 in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul) is a retired Brazilian football referee. He is known for supervising two matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. Marsiglia also officiated at the 1991 and ...
*
Alberto Tejada Carlos Alberto Tejada Noriega (born 11 November 1956 in Lima, Peru) is a former Peruvian Minister of Health between 2011 and 2012. He was also a urologist and later a football referee. Football career He refereed three matches in the FIFA World ...


Draw


Seeding and drawing

The FIFA Organizing Committee upheld the tradition to seed the hosts (United States) and holders (Germany), along with the other four teams ranked in the top five based on their results obtained in the last three FIFA World Cups. The newly introduced FIFA World Ranking was not used as part of the calculated ranking for the seeding in this World Cup, as FIFA considered it to be too new. Despite that it was not used in any way, for comparison purposes the teams' pre-tournament FIFA World ranking position from June 1994 are shown in parenthesis, followed by the official and used ranking (OR) position determined by the results obtained in the last three world cups. The six top-seeded teams, were allocated in pot 1 and would be drawn into the first position of the six groups playing in the group stage. The remaining 18 teams were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections, with the: six qualified teams from Africa and Americas in pot 2, the top-6 ranked European teams in pot 3, while pot 4 comprised the 7th-10th best qualified European teams along with the two qualified Asian teams. The principle of the draw was that each of the six drawn groups would have one team drawn respectively from pot 1, 2, 3 and 4; while respecting the following geographical limitations: # At least two European teams from UEFA in all groups, with one group having three European teams. # United States and Mexico can not be drawn in the same group, due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONCACAF team per group. # Brazil and Argentina can not be drawn with another South American team, due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONMEBOL team per group. # As all qualified Asian teams from AFC were in the same pot 4, and all qualified African teams from CAF in the same pot 2, this automatically respected the rule of only allowing maximum one Asian team and maximum one African team per group, as part of the normal draw procedure - without needing to observe special restricting sub-rules for them. * The draw took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was televised live on 19 December 1993 on ESPN in the United States & Eurosport in all Europe. Ahead of the draw, the FIFA Organizing Committee had decided to allocate the top-seeded first group position A1 for the United States as the hosts, C1 for defending champions Germany, and E1 for the Italian team who had requested to play most of their group matches at the
Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. The three other top seeded teams would be located at the first position of either group B/D/F, with the decision largely depending on the identity of the other drawn group members for the seeded teams. Therefore, this last decision would only be made by a secret vote made by the FIFA Organizing Committee a few minutes after all teams had been drawn for all groups, and the decision would only be announced as the last step of the televised draw event. To make this procedure possible, the six drawn groups would during the draw be given the colors green, orange, white, black, pink and blue; and the closing remarks at the event would then reveal the group letters represented by the colors. The six groups from A to F would play their group matches in the following nine cities: * Group A and B are playing in Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. * Group C and D are playing in Chicago, Dallas and Boston. * Group E and F are playing in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, Washington DC, and Orlando. Procedure for the draw: # Pot 1 was used to draw the six top-seeded teams into the first position of the six groups designated by the colors green, orange, white, black, pink and blue. Group letters behind each color would only be decided by a following secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote, and only be revealed after the draw had been completed. Although the committee had already predetermined ahead of the draw that: the United States should play in group A, Germany should play in group C, and Italy should play in group E. # Pot 2 was used to draw one team to each of the six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue); while this order however at the same time had to respect the following restricted geographical rules: #* Rule 1: First two drawn non South American teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the two groups led by a South American team, in order to avoid the possibility for these groups later to be drawn by a second South American team. #* Rule 2: First drawn South American team or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the group led by the CONCACAF team, the United States, in order to avoid the possibility for this group later to be drawn by the second CONCACAF team Mexico. #* Rule 3: One of the two South American teams or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the first available open group being led by a European team, in order to avoid the meeting of two South American teams in the same group. #* Rule 4: Mexico can not be drawn together with the United States as they are both CONCACAF teams, so Mexico will be grouped with the first still open available group being led by a European or South American team, as per the color order. # Pot 3 was used to draw one European team to each of the six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue). # Pot 4 was used to draw one European/Asian team to each of six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue). However, in order to respect the geographical rule that five of the groups shall have two European teams - and the rule that three European teams is only allowed in one group, the color order will be skipped subject to these allocation rules: #* Rule 1: All drawn Asian (AFC) teams would not be drawn into any of the three groups led by a top-seeded CONCACAF/CONMEBOL team (United States/Brazil/Argentina), but would instead only be allowed to join a group being led by a top-seeded European team. #* Rule 2: All drawn European (UEFA) teams, shall first be drawn into the three groups led by a top-seeded CONCACAF/CONMEBOL team (United States/Brazil/Argentina), until the point of time when only European team(s) remain to be drawn from the last pot 4. # The exact group position number for the teams (2, 3 or 4) in each colored group, were also drawn immediately from six special group bowls, after each respective team had been drawn from pot 2, 3 and 4. # Group letters behind each color (green, orange, white, black, pink and blue) would finally be decided by a final secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote, being announced as the last part of the televised event. The draw was officiated by FIFA general-secretary
Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
. Teams were drawn by German legend
Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
, heavyweight boxing champion
Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the on ...
and comedian and actor Robin Williams. Numbers for placement in the group were drawn by actor
Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...
, Women's World Cup champion Michelle Akers, model Carol Alt, artist Peter Max, racecar driver Mario Andretti and Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Mary Lou Retton.


Results of the draw

In each group, the teams will play three matches, one against each of the other teams. After completion of the group stage, the best two teams of each group as well as the four best ranked third places, will advance to round 16 in the
knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
. This format was identical with the tournament structure being used in
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
and
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
. Compared to all previous editions of the World Cup, a victory in the group stage will however now be rewarded with 3 points instead of the previously granted 2 points.


Summary

The format of the competition stayed the same as in the
1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...
: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout phase: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. FIFA introduced three rule changes for this tournament to encourage attacking play: three points awarded for a win in a group stage match instead of two, a relaxed offside rule and a ban on picking up back-passes to goalkeepers. The number of goals increased to 2.73 per game from the record-low of 2.21 in 1990. The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having played in the
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
,
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
, and 1990 World Cups, and leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title and the final of the 1990 World Cup. Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test that uncovered ephedrine, a weight-loss drug, in his blood.
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign, failed to advance from the round robin. The team was dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection. After scoring an own goal for the United States and effectively eliminating Colombia from the competition, defender
Andrés Escobar Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (; 13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian footballer who played as a defender. He played for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team. Nicknamed ''The Gentleman'', he was known ...
was shot to death outside a bar in a
Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
suburb 10 days later. On the field, Bulgaria was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. The Bulgarians had never won a game in five previous World Cup finals but, led by
Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...
who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group games to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico. Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals, where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semi-finals and third-place game, respectively. The host nation United States, after a 23rd-place finish in the 1990 tournament, advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. They were eliminated in the Round of 16 in a 1–0 defeat to Brazil on
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
. Brazil's win over the hosts helped take them to the final against Italy. Brazil's path was relatively smooth though not easy, as they defeated the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in the semis. The Italians meanwhile had made hard work of reaching the final. During the group stage, Italy struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland. Italian playmaker
Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pre ...
, who as the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon D'Or holder, was expected to be one of the stars of the tournament, had not yet scored a goal. During the Round of 16 games against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1–0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the tying goal, forcing the game into
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
. He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarter-final against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semi-final victory over Bulgaria. The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup. These teams had also previously met in the qualifying group. Sweden won, 4–0. Swedish forward
Tomas Brolin Per Tomas Brolin (born 29 November 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward or as a midfielder. At club level, he had a successful period with A.C. Parma during the early 1990s, winning the 1992 Coppa Italia, th ...
was named to the All-star team. The
final game Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
at the Rose Bowl was tense but devoid of scoring chances. It was the second time in
24 years 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest co ...
that the two nations had met in a final. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3–2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive. He missed by shooting it over the crossbar, and the Brazilians were crowned champions for the fourth time. After the game ended, then- Vice-president
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
hosted the awarding ceremony by handing Brazilian captain Dunga the prestigious trophy; the Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Formula One motor racing champion and countryman Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior. The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, the latter becoming the first player to score five goals in a game, coming in a 6–1 victory against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazilian striker
Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...
, with five goals, won the
Golden Ball Golden Ball may refer to: Awards * Golden Ball Award, FIFA competition award for best player of tournament ** FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup award for best player of tournament ** FIFA U-20 World Cup#A ...
as the tournament's best player. Despite the controversy, the U.S. staged a hugely successful tournament, with an average attendance of nearly 70,000, surpassing the
1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...
average attendance of 51,000, thanks to the large seating capacities of the stadiums in the United States in comparison to the generally smaller venues of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France.


Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the World Cup was held on June 17 at Chicago's Soldier Field. The ceremony was emceed by
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
, who fell off the dais in introducing
Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...
, who gave a musical performance. Ross was also supposed to kick a soccer ball into the goal from the penalty spot at the beginning of her performance, with the goal then splitting in two as part of a pre-orchestrated stunt. She kicked the ball wide to the left, missing the goal, but the goalposts collapsed anyway in accordance with the stunt plans. In addition, Daryl Hall and Jon Secada also gave musical performances. It was officially opened by then-President Bill Clinton.


Group stage

''Times are Eastern Daylight Time ( UTC−4) (East Rutherford, Foxborough, Orlando, Pontiac and Washington),
Central Daylight Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
( UTC−5) (Chicago and Dallas), and Pacific Daylight Time ( UTC−7) (Pasadena and Stanford).'' In the following tables: *Pld = total games played *W = total games won *D = total games drawn (tied) *L = total games lost *GF = total goals scored (goals for) *GA = total goals conceded (goals against) *GD = goal difference (GF−GA) *Pts = total points accumulated


Group A

The Group A game between the United States and Switzerland was the first to take place indoors, played under the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome. Following the tournament, Colombian defender
Andrés Escobar Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (; 13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian footballer who played as a defender. He played for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team. Nicknamed ''The Gentleman'', he was known ...
was shot dead on his return to Colombia, after his own goal had contributed to his country's elimination. Victories against Colombia and the United States (in front of a crowd of 93,869) were enough to see Romania through as group winners, despite a 4–1 hammering by Switzerland in between. The magnitude of that victory allowed Switzerland to move ahead of the United States on goal difference, although the hosts qualified for the second round as one of the best third-placed teams. Switzerland's 4–1 victory over Romania came nearly 40 years to the date of Switzerland's last World Cup victory, also a 4–1 victory, on that occasion over Italy. The United States' 2–1 victory over Colombia was its first World Cup victory since June 29, 1950, when it upset England 1–0 in the 1950 World Cup.


Group B

Group B produced two of the four semi-finalists of this World Cup — Brazil and Sweden — and was also one of the two groups in which only two, rather than three, sides progressed to the second round. The match between the two eliminated teams, Cameroon and Russia, broke two World Cup records. Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first – and remains the only – man to score five goals in a single World Cup game as Russia won 6–1. The goals also ensured that Salenko finished the tournament joint-top scorer with six goals, having previously bagged one against Sweden. Cameroon left a mark too as Roger Milla, at the age of 42, became the oldest World Cup goalscorer of all time, as he grabbed his side's consolation goal in the game. The result was not enough to take Russia through following losses to Brazil and Sweden. Brazil beat Cameroon, and then confirmed the top spot with a draw to Sweden. The Swedes also progressed, finishing in second place with five points. Sweden's 3–1 victory over Russia was the nation's first World Cup victory since July 3, 1974. Russia failed to progress to the second round for the second time, while Cameroon failed to repeat their surprise performance from the previous tournament.


Group C

As was the case with Group B, Group C would only send two teams into the Round of 16 as Spain and defending champions Germany progressed to round two. Coming from two goals down with four minutes left to snatch a 2–2 draw against Spain, the South Koreans very nearly eclipsed that feat against Germany when they came from 3–0 down to lose narrowly 3–2. In spite of these comebacks, South Korea was held to a 0–0 draw against Bolivia in their other group game when a win would have seen them through. Spain's late implosion against the South Koreans effectively decided that it would be Germany who won the group and not them. Germany, who defeated Bolivia 1–0 in the tournament's opening game, finished with seven points. Spain had to settle for second place despite leading in all three games. Despite Bolivia finishing last in the group, Erwin Sanchez made team history after scoring the nation's first World Cup goal in a 3–1 loss to Spain. Prior to 1994, Bolivia had never scored in either of their previous appearances at the 1930 and 1950 World Cups.


Group D

Tournament favorites Argentina led by Diego Maradona collected a maximum of six points from their opening two games after dominating Greece 4–0 in Foxboro with a Gabriel Batistuta hattrick before winning a close match against a formidable Nigeria with a 2–1 victory on the same field four days later; despite this Argentina finished third in the group. Nigeria had been very impressive on their World Cup debut, and despite the narrow loss to Argentina, had emerged as group winners following victories against Bulgaria and Greece, the latter in which Nigeria doubled its lead late on a goal from Daniel Amokachi – a goal that would allow Nigeria to top its group. Maradona only played with Argentina during their first two games, both in Foxborough (playing Greece and Nigeria and scoring his last ever World Cup goal against the former); he was thrown out of the tournament after testing positive for ephedrine. Having qualified for the tournament through a last-gasp goal against France, Bulgaria surprised many people, as the nation had never even won a game at the World Cup finals prior to this tournament. Despite losing its opening game 3–0 to Nigeria, Bulgaria came back in style with a 4–0 win over Greece (who had suffered exactly the same fate five days earlier against Argentina), and a 2–0 win against Argentina saw them advance. Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury time, while Bulgaria played the last 25 minutes with 10 men; however, a 91st-minute header from Nasko Sirakov meant that Argentina dropped two places and finished third. Nigeria won the group on goal difference. Bulgaria's victory over Argentina earned them second place.


Group E

Group E remains the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same points and same goal difference. It began at Giants Stadium where Ray Houghton's chip ensured a shock Irish victory over the then-three-time champions Italy by 1–0, as well as gaining a measure of revenge for the previous World Cup, in which Italy both hosted and eliminated Ireland at the quarter-final stage. The next day in Washington, Norway played its first World Cup game since 1938 and
Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue ...
's goal five minutes from time proved decisive in an equally tense encounter as Norway beat Mexico. In the second round of group play, Luis García's double had Mexico 2–0 up and in control of the game before a disagreement on the touchline resulted in fines for both Republic of Ireland's manager, Jack Charlton, and their striker John Aldridge. Aldridge was able to regain concentration in time to score six minutes from the end of the game to make it 2–1. Despite their loss, Aldridge's goal proved crucial to Ireland in the final group standings. During the previous day at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Italy's World Cup hopes seemed to be diminishing fast as goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off with the game still at 0–0. Yet despite this, Italy was still able to salvage an important 1–0 victory. Norway would ultimately pay a price for their inability to take advantage of Pagliuca's dismissal. With the four teams level on points, the final two group games would each have to finish as draws for things to stay that way. Republic of Ireland made it through after a dreary 0–0 draw with Norway; midfielders Massaro and Bernal traded strikes as Italy and Mexico played to a 1–1 draw. Those results meant that Mexico won the group on goals scored, with three in the group. With Ireland and Italy also progressing having finished with identical records, the Irish team qualified as second place as a result of their victory against the Italians. Norway's shortcomings in attack ultimately let them down, and they exited the tournament with only one goal.


Group F

Just as happened to Argentina in Group D, Belgium endured the same fate in Group F. Despite winning both of its first two matches 1–0 against Morocco and neighbors Netherlands, Belgium finished third as, in an upset, it lost to tournament newcomers Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the third game. During that game, Saudi player Saaed Al-Owairian ran from his own half through a maze of Belgian players to score the game's only goal. Saudi Arabia advanced through to the Round of 16 as well, having also defeated Morocco 2–1. The Netherlands endured a somewhat nervier experience. The opening 2–1 victory against Saudi Arabia was followed by the 1–0 loss against Belgium before another 2–1 victory against Morocco, with Bryan Roy scoring the winner a mere 12 minutes from time, saw the Dutch win the group having scored more goals than Belgium and beaten Saudi Arabia. Morocco, despite losing all three of their group games, did not leave without a fight, as each of their losses were by just a single goal, 1–0 to Belgium, 2–1 to Saudi Arabia, and 2–1 to the Netherlands.


Ranking of third-placed teams


Knockout stage


Round of 16

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----


Semi-finals

----


Third place play-off


Final


Statistics


Goalscorers

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...
and Oleg Salenko received the Golden Boot for scoring six goals. In total, 141 goals were scored by 81 players, with only one of them credited as an own goal. 6 goals *
Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...
* Oleg Salenko 5 goals *
Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...
*
Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pre ...
* Jürgen Klinsmann *
Kennet Andersson Bernt Kennet Andersson (born 6 October 1967) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Starting off his career with IFK Eskilstuna in the mid-1980s, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Belgium, France, Italy, ...
4 goals *
Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Archangel Gabriel, ...
*
Florin Răducioiu Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former football striker, who played for Dinamo București, A.C. Milan, Brescia Calcio, West Ham United, RCD Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and AS Monaco. He played for Romania at the 1990 FI ...
* Martin Dahlin 3 goals * Bebeto *
Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...
* Gheorghe Hagi *
José Luis Caminero José Luis Pérez Caminero (born 8 November 1967) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Arguably one of the best Spanish footballers of the 1990s, Caminero was able to play in any midfield position, in the mid ...
*
Tomas Brolin Per Tomas Brolin (born 29 November 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward or as a midfielder. At club level, he had a successful period with A.C. Parma during the early 1990s, winning the 1992 Coppa Italia, th ...
2 goals * Claudio Caniggia * Philippe Albert * Yordan Letchkov * Adolfo Valencia * Rudi Völler *
Dino Baggio Dino Baggio (born 24 July 1971) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Throughout his career, he played for several Italian clubs, and won the UEFA Cup three times, twice with Parma and once with Juven ...
* Hong Myung-bo * Luis García * Wim Jonk *
Daniel Amokachi Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian football manager and former professional footballer and a member of the dubious goals panel for the Premier League. As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier Lea ...
* Emmanuel Amunike *
Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with S ...
* Fuad Anwar *
Ion Andoni Goikoetxea Jon Andoni Goikoetxea Lasa (born 21 October 1965), often known as Goiko, is a Spanish retired footballer. An attacking player of wide range, he operated in various positions on the right side of the pitch (right-back, midfielder or forward), ...
*
Adrian Knup Adrian Knup (born 2 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional football striker who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He was capped 49 times and scored 26 goals for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1996, including three games at the ...
1 goal * Abel Balbo * Diego Maradona *
Marc Degryse Marc Gabriel Degryse (born 4 September 1965), nicknamed ''Le Lutin d'Ardooie'' ("The Imp of Ardooie") and ''The Little One'',Georges Grün * Erwin Sánchez * Branco * Márcio Santos *
Raí Raí Souza Vieira de Oliveira (born 15 May 1965), known as Raí (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent the better part of his 15-year career with São Paulo and Paris Saint-Germain, wi ...
* Daniel Borimirov * Nasko Sirakov *
David Embé Jacques-David Embé (born November 13, 1973) is a Cameroonian former soccer player who played as Striker (football), striker. He played in various countries throughout his career, including for Belenenses of Portugal, Larissa FC, Larissa of Gree ...
* Roger Milla * François Omam-Biyik * Hernán Gaviria * John Harold Lozano * Lothar Matthäus * Karl-Heinz Riedle * John Aldridge * Ray Houghton * Daniele Massaro *
Hwang Sun-hong Hwang Sun-hong (born 14 July 1968) is a South Korean former football player and current head coach of the South Korea national under-23 football team. He was the most notable South Korean striker in the 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Af ...
* Seo Jung-won *
Mohammed Chaouch Mohamed Chaouch ( ar, محمد شاوش; born December 12, 1966 in Aklim) is a former Moroccan footballer. Club career He played a season for FC Metz and for OGC Nice from 1993 to 1997. International career Chaouch played several games for Mor ...
*
Hassan Nader Hassan Nader ( ar, حسن ناظر; born 8 July 1965) is a Moroccan former footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his 21-year senior career in Portugal – amassing Primeira Liga totals of 219 matches and 94 goals – mainly with ...
* Marcelino Bernal *
Alberto García Aspe Alberto García Aspe Mena (born 11 May 1967) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is one of the all-time appearance leaders for the Mexico national team. He participated in 109 matches, scoring a total 21 g ...
* Bryan Roy *
Gaston Taument Gaston Taument (born 1 October 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right winger but also as a second striker. He played the vast majority of his 14-year professional career with Feyenoord, amassing Eredivisie t ...
*
Aron Winter Aron Winter (born 1 March 1967) is a Dutch former professional football midfielder and manager for Suriname. He has played for Ajax and Sparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for Italian sides Lazio and Inter Milan, and for the Netherlands nationa ...
* Finidi George * Samson Siasia *
Rashidi Yekini Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is all-time top goalscorer for his nation. His professional career, which spanned more than two decades, was mainly associated wit ...
*
Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue ...
* Dan Petrescu *
Dmitri Radchenko Dmitri Leonidovich Radchenko (; born 2 December 1970) is a Russian football coach and former player who played as a striker. During his professional career he played in four countries, including in La Liga. Career Born in Leningrad, Soviet ...
*
Fahad Al-Ghesheyan Fahad Saleh Al-Ghesheyan ( ar, فهد صالح الغشيان) (born August 1, 1973) is a former Saudi Arabian football (soccer) player who participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, scoring one goal against Sweden in the Round of 16. Al-Ghesheya ...
* Sami Al-Jaber *
Saeed Al-Owairan Saeed Ali Al-Owairan Al-Dossari ( ar, سعيد علي العويران الدوسري‎; born 19 August 1967) is a Saudi Arabian former international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is renowned for his goal in t ...
* Txiki Begiristain *
Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...
*
Fernando Hierro Fernando Ruiz Hierro (; born 23 March 1968) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, sweeper or defensive midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Liga MX club C.D. Guadalajara. He won five La Liga ...
*
Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...
*
Julio Salinas Julio Salinas Fernández (; born 11 September 1962) is a Spanish former footballer who played during the 1980s and 1990s. A tall, lanky centre forward with skills, he was best remembered for his spell at Barcelona – having started his career ...
*
Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...
*
Roger Ljung Roger Ingemar Ljung (born 8 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a left back. He played for clubs in Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, and Germany during a career that spanned between 1983 and 1995. He won ...
*
Håkan Mild Stig Håkan Mild (born 14 June 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is best remembered for his time with IFK Göteborg, with which he won four Swedish Championships. A full international betwe ...
*
Georges Bregy Georges Bregy (born 17 January 1958, in Raron) is a retired Swiss football striker and midfielder. He was capped 54 times and scored 12 goals for the Swiss national team between 1984 and 1994. He played four games at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, a ...
*
Stéphane Chapuisat Stéphane Chapuisat (born 28 June 1969) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer for both club and country (for which he appeared more than 100 times), he spent most of his career with Bundesliga ...
*
Alain Sutter Alain Sutter (born 22 January 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the sporting director of FC St. Gallen. Playing career Born in Bern, Sutter played youth football for SC Bümpliz 78, bef ...
* Earnie Stewart *
Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...
Own goals *
Andrés Escobar Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (; 13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian footballer who played as a defender. He played for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team. Nicknamed ''The Gentleman'', he was known ...
(against the United States)


Awards


All-star team

The All-star team is a squad consisting of the eleven most impressive players at the 1994 World Cup, as selected by FIFA's Technical Study Group.


Final standings

After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 1994 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.


Disciplinary statistics

*Total number of yellow cards: 235 *Average yellow cards per game: 4.52 *Total number of red cards: 15 *Average red cards per match: 0.29 *First yellow card of the tournament: Jürgen KohlerGermany against
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
*First red card of the tournament: Marco Etcheverry
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
against Germany *Fastest yellow card from kick off: 1 minute – Sergei GorlukovichRussia against
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
*Fastest yellow card after coming on as substitute: 2 minutes – Daniel BorimirovBulgaria against Greece (introduced in the 82nd minute) *Latest yellow card in a game without extra time: 90 minutes –
José Luis Caminero José Luis Pérez Caminero (born 8 November 1967) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Arguably one of the best Spanish footballers of the 1990s, Caminero was able to play in any midfield position, in the mid ...
Spain against
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
,
Yuri Nikiforov Yuriy Valeryevich Nikiforov (alternate spelling Valeriovych; , uk, Юрій Валерійович Никифоров; born 16 September 1970) is a professional football coach and a former player who played mainly as a central defender. Cl ...
Russia against Cameroon, Mohamed Al-DeayeaSaudi Arabia against Morocco *Latest yellow card in a game with extra time: 108 minutes –
Basarab Panduru Basarab Nică Panduru (born 11 July 1970) is a Romanian retired footballer and currently television pundit for Telekom Sport. Playing career Born in Mârzănești, Romania, Panduru started his professional career with CSM Reşiţa where he pla ...
Romania against
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
*Fastest dismissal from kick off: 21 minutes –
Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...
Italy against Norway *Fastest dismissal of a substitute: 3 minutes –
Ion Vlădoiu Ion "Jean" Vlădoiu (born 5 November 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is one of the few who played for the biggest teams of Romania – Steaua București, Rapid București, Dinamo București, Unive ...
Romania against
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
(introduced in the 80th minute) *Latest dismissal in a game without extra time: 89 minutes –
Gustavo Quinteros Gustavo Domingo Quinteros Desabato (born 15 February 1965) is a football manager and former professional player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of Chilean club Colo-Colo. Born in Argentina, he played for the Bolivia nat ...
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
against Germany *Latest dismissal in a game with extra time: 101 minutes –
Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina, and Valen ...
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
against Romania *Least time difference between two yellow cards given to the same player: 21 minutes –
Fernando Clavijo Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the Am ...
United States against Brazil (booked in the 64th minute and again in the 85th minute) *Most yellow cards (team): 23 – Bulgaria *Most red cards (team): 2 –
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, Bulgaria, Italy,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
*Fewest yellow cards (team): 5 – Cameroon *Most yellow cards (player): 4 –
Zlatko Yankov Zlatko Georgiev Yankov ( bg, Златко Георгиев Янков; born 7 June 1966) is a Bulgarian footballer manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. Career Yankov was capped 79 times and scored four goals for the Bulgaria n ...
*Most red cards (player): 1 –
Fernando Clavijo Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the Am ...
,
Luis Cristaldo Luis Héctor Cristaldo Ruiz Díaz (born August 31, 1969 in Formosa, Argentina) is an Argentine-born Bolivian football midfielder. He is Bolivia's national team record cap holder alongside Marco Sandy. Club career Born in Argentina, he relo ...
, Marco Etcheverry, Luis García, Sergei Gorlukovich,
Emil Kremenliev Emil Georgiev Kremenliev ( bg, Емил Георгиев Кременлиев; born 13 August 1969) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Career Kremenliev played club football for Slavia Sofia, Levski Sofia ...
,
Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...
,
Miguel Ángel Nadal Miguel Ángel Nadal Homar (, ca, Miquel Àngel Nadal Homar; born 28 July 1966) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a versatile defender and midfielder. He began and ended his career with Mallorca, but his greatest achievements came ...
,
Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...
,
Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina, and Valen ...
, Rigobert Song,
Jonas Thern Jonas Magnus Thern (born 20 March 1967) is a Swedish football manager who manages Allsvenskan club IFK Värnamo. He is also a former professional player who played as a midfielder. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in 1985, he went on to re ...
,
Tsanko Tsvetanov Tsanko Nikolaev Tsvetanov ( bg, Цанко Hиколaeв Цветанов; born 6 January 1970) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. After ending his playing career he began coaching. Club career Tsvetanov wa ...
,
Ion Vlădoiu Ion "Jean" Vlădoiu (born 5 November 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is one of the few who played for the biggest teams of Romania – Steaua București, Rapid București, Dinamo București, Unive ...
, Gianfranco Zola *Most yellow cards (match): 10 – Mexico vs Bulgaria *Most red cards (match): 2 – Mexico vs Bulgaria *Fewest yellow cards (match): 1 – Netherlands vs Republic of Ireland *Most cards in one match: 10 yellow cards and 2 red cards – Mexico vs Bulgaria


Symbols


Mascot

The official mascot of this World Cup was "Striker, the World Cup Pup", a dog wearing a red, white and blue soccer uniform with a ball. Striker was designed by the Warner Bros. animation team. A dog was picked as the mascot because dogs are a common pet in the United States.


Match ball

The official match ball was " Questra", manufactured by
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
.


Music

The official song was " Gloryland".2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Official Song 'Live It Up' to be performed by all-star line-up
/ref>


Aftermath and legacy

* Although USA '94 marked the seventh time FIFA hosted the World Cup in
the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
(after being held in Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and twice by Mexico in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
and
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
), the United States became the first host in the American continent outside of the Latin American spectrum, and the first in the Anglosphere outside of England. * The game between the United States and
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
at the Pontiac Silverdome on June 18 was the first to be played indoors in World Cup history: grass was grown by
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
and was the first time since 1965 (the failed attempt at the Astrodome) that natural turf was used in an indoor stadium in the United States. To date, only Sapporo Dome in 2002 and Arena AufSchalke in 2006 have subsequently hosted indoor games in World Cup history. * Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first player to score five goals in a single World Cup finals game in his country's group stage win over Cameroon. Cameroon's Roger Milla also scored a goal in the same game, becoming the oldest player to score a goal in a World Cup. At 42, he was also the oldest player to appear in a World Cup, a record held until 2014, when
Faryd Mondragón Faryd Camilo Mondragón Alí (born 21 June 1971) is a Colombian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Since his debut in 1993, he has played over 50 times for the Colombia national team. He was named in the Colombia squ ...
(43 years, 3 days) of
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
broke the record in their game against
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
at the
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
. In turn, goalkeeper Essam El Hadary (45 years, 161 days) of Egypt would surpass Mondragón against Saudi Arabia, in the Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, Russia, on June 25, 2018. However, Milla remains to be the oldest outfield player to perform in the World Cup. * For the first time, during the entering of the players onto the field, the FIFA Anthem, composed by Franz Lambert, was played. *
Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...
of Italy became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup game, dismissed for handling outside his area against Norway. * Brazil's 11 goals in their seven games was a record for the lowest average goals scored per game for any World Cup-winning side, but this record was broken by Spain's eight goals in 2010. The three goals Brazil conceded in those seven games was at the time also the lowest average goals conceded per game, although this was subsequently surpassed by France in 1998, Italy in 2006, and Spain in 2010. * The finals were the first time FIFA decided to experiment with the style of jerseys worn by officials, foregoing the traditional black. They could choose between burgundy, yellow or silver shirts depending on what was necessary to avoid a clash of colors with the two competing teams. This custom has since been followed, but with black shirts added as an option later. * The finals were also the first time that players had their shirt numbers printed on the center front (or on the right or left breast, in Morocco's and Russia's case respectively) of the shirt, as well as their names printed on the back of their jerseys in a World Cup, just as other American sports did, to make their identification easier for sportscasters. This custom followed from Euro 92, and has followed ever since (although numbers printed on the center front had been experimented during the 1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Portugal). * The finals were the first to award
3 points for a win Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...
in the group stage to motivate teams to play an attacking style. * In disciplinary matters, for the first time yellow cards accumulated in the group stage were wiped clean after its completion, and players started with a clean slate at the start of the knockout stage. Previously, players were suspended for one game if accumulating two yellow cards throughout the tournament. Now, players were suspended for one game after accumulating two yellow cards in the group stage, or two yellow cards in the knockout stage. This was in response to the situation in 1990, where players such as Claudio Caniggia and
Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...
were suspended for the later games. * The 1994 World Cup revolutionized television coverage of sports in the United States through the sponsored scoreboard and game clock that were constantly shown on screen throughout the game. Television sports coverage in the United States had long been dependent upon commercial breaks, a feature suitable for sports such as baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football (which all have breaks in the action), but long considered incompatible with soccer, due to the long stretches of uninterrupted play. Variations on it were quickly incorporated into virtually every team sports broadcast by the decade's end. The first American pro sports broadcaster to do this was Fox Sports, which won national rights to broadcast the NFL's
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference ...
from CBS six months before the 1994 World Cup began. * The 1994 World Cup final was the first (and to date only) goalless final in World Cup history. It was also the first to be decided by a penalty shootout, with the
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
finals ending in similar circumstances. * This was the last World Cup in which games other than the last two in each group were played simultaneously, although this only happened once in this tournament: Saudi Arabia v Morocco and Belgium v Netherlands in Group F. From France '98 onwards, each game in the first two rounds of group play and the whole knockout stage have been played separately to maximize television audiences. * This was the last World Cup featuring 24 nations, and the last in which third-placed teams were still able to progress to the round of 16. From 1998 on, there were 32 nations, with only the top two in each group progressing. * This was the first and the last World Cup in which both teams taking part in the third-place game, Sweden and Bulgaria, received bronze medals.


See also

*
Soccer in the United States Soccer in the United States is run by different organizations. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) governs most levels of soccer in the country, including the national teams, professional leagues, and amateur leagues, being the highest ...
*
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...
– a first Women's World Cup hosted by the United States *
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at s ...
– a second Women's World Cup hosted by the United States * Copa América Centenario – First edition of the ''
Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
'' hosted within the United States *
2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three No ...
– an upcoming tournament to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.


References


External links


1994 FIFA World Cup USA
FIFA.com

RSSSF
FIFA Technical Report (Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)
an
(Part 4)The event at SVT's open archive
{{Authority control World Cup FIFA World Cup tournaments International association football competitions hosted by the United States World Sports in Stanford, California 1994 in the United States June 1994 sports events in the United States July 1994 sports events in the United States 1994 in American sports