The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, the quadrennial international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

rounds took place between August 1960 and December 1961, with 56 teams entering from six confederations, and fourteen qualifying for the finals tournament alongside

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, the hosts, and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, the defending champions. Brazil successfully defended their World Cup title, defeating

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

3–1 in the final in the Chilean capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. They became the second team, after

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

, to win the World Cup twice consecutively; no team has since achieved the feat. Host nation Chile finished third, defeating

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

1–0 in the third-place play-off. The tournament was marred by violence between players on the pitch and a toxic atmosphere; it included the first-round match between Chile and Italy (2–0), which became known as the Battle of Santiago, one of a number of violent matches played throughout the tournament. It was the first World Cup that used

goal average A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

as a means of separating teams with the same number of points. It was also the first World Cup in which the average number of goals per match was less than three (2.78); this has been repeated at every World Cup since.

Host selection

After Europe hosted two consecutive World Cups, the American federations demanded the 1962 edition must be held in South America or they would stage a complete boycott of the tournament, similar to 1938.

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, after previously failed candidacies, was the favorite. Magallanes' chairman, Ernesto Alvear, attended a FIFA Congress held in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

while the Finnish city was hosting the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

. He considered that Chile was able to organise the World Cup. Several sources also say that FIFA did not want Argentina to run alone, requesting the participation of Chile as almost symbolic. Chile registered its candidacy in 1954 alongside Argentina and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, the latter withdrawing at the request of FIFA. Chile's football federation committee, led by Carlos Dittborn and Juan Pinto Durán, toured many countries convincing various football associations about the country's ability to organise the tournament in comparison to Argentina's superior sports infrastructure and prestige. The FIFA Congress met in Lisbon, Portugal on 10 June 1956. That day, Raul Colombo, representing Argentina's candidacy, ended his speech with the phrase "We can start the World Cup tomorrow. We have it all." The next day, Dittborn presented four arguments that supported Chile's candidacy: Chile's continued participations at FIFA-organised conferences and tournaments, sports climate, tolerance of race and creed and political and institutional stability of the country. In addition, Dittborn invoked Article 2 of the FIFA statutes that addressed the tournament's role in promoting the sport in countries deemed "underdeveloped". In a counter-point to Colombo's claim that "We have it all" Dittborn coined the phrase "Because we have nothing, we want to do it all" () around the fifteenth minute of his speech. Chile won 32 votes to Argentina's 10. Fourteen members abstained from voting.

Qualification

57 teams entered the 1962 World Cup (due to rejected entries and withdrawals, 52 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages). Chile as host nation and Brazil as reigning World Cup champions were granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 14 finals places divided among the continental confederations. Eight places were contested by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

teams (Europe) and three by

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

teams (South America). CAF teams (Africa), AFC teams (Asia), NAFC teams (North America), and CCCF teams (Central America and Caribbean) contested three play-offs slots. The three winners would then face a European or South American team for entry into the World Cup. The 1962 tournament was the last one for which only nations from Europe or the Americas qualified. Two teams qualified for the first time ever:

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Colombia would not qualify for another World Cup until 1990. Among the teams who failed to qualify were the 1958 runners up

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and third-place finishers

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

withdrew during the qualification tournament due to financial problems. Italy, Switzerland and Uruguay all qualified for the first time since

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, and Spain 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 ...

. Scotland failed to qualify for the first time since rejoining FIFA in 1946 (though they had ultimately also declined to participate in the 1950 edition).

List of qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. ; AFC (0) * None qualified ; CAF (0) * None qualified ;

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

(1) * ;

(5) * * (title holders) * (hosts) * (debut) * ;

(10) * (debut) * * * * * * * * *

Venues

Originally, eight stadiums were selected to host the World Cup matches in eight cities:

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...

, Rancagua, Arica, Talca, Concepción,

Talcahuano Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile. ...

and

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

. The Valdivia earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, occurred on 22 May 1960. With over 50,000 casualties and more than 2 million people affected, the earthquake forced the organising committee to completely modify the World Cup's calendar. Talca, Concepción, Talcahuano and Valdivia were severely damaged and discarded as venues.

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

and

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

declined to host any matches as their venues were not financially self-sustainable.

and Arica managed to rebuild their stadiums while Braden Copper Company, then an American company that controlled the El Teniente copper mine, allowed the use of its stadium in Rancagua. Due to these setbacks, this is the World Cup edition with the smallest number of venues spread across the country (while the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, ...

was held in three venues, all of them were located in a single city). The most used stadium was the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, with 10 matches; the Estadio Sausalito in Viña del Mar hosted 8 matches, and the stadiums in Rancagua and far-away Arica (the only location that was not close to the other cities) both hosted 7 matches. Being that Estadio Nacional was the only large venue of the tournament (all others had less than 20,000 seats), it also saw the largest attendance average, by far, with Estadio Sausalito's attendance only being boosted with the Brazil matches it hosted (the semifinal between Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia was the only one in the stadium with less than 10,000 spectators). Being largely concerned with the build-up of the country after the 1960 earthquake, government support for the tournament was minimal.

Team bases

Squads

Squads for the 1962 World Cup consisted of 22 players, as for the previous tournament in 1958. After Attilio Demaría and Luis Monti, who both represented Argentina in 1930 and Italy in 1934, Ferenc Puskás (Hungary in 1954, then Spain), José Santamaría (Uruguay in 1954, then Spain) and José Altafini (Brazil in 1958, then Italy) became the third, fourth and fifth players to play for two national teams in the World Cup. In light of this, FIFA created stipulations describing that once a player represents a nation during a World Cup or its qualifying rounds the player cannot switch to another national team. Robert Prosinečki and Robert Jarni would later become the sixth and seventh such players, playing for Yugoslavia in 1990, then for Croatia in 1998; Davor Šuker was also selected in both squads, but did not play in 1990. This was accepted by FIFA because Croatia was a newly independent former republic of Yugoslavia.

Match officials

Eighteen match officials from 17 countries were assigned to the tournament to serve as referees and assistant referees. ;Europe * Erich Steiner * Arthur Blavier * Ken Aston * Juan Gardeazábal * Pierre Schwinte * Albert Dusch * Andor Dorogi * Cesare Jonni * Leo Horn * Robert Holley Davidson * Gottfried Dienst * Karol Galba * Nikolay Latyshev * Branko Tesanić ;South America * João Etzel Filho * Sergio Bustamante * Carlos Robles * Arturo Yamasaki

Seeding

Format

The format of the competition was similar to that of the 1958 competition: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Four teams were seeded in the draw taking place in

, on 18 January 1962: Brazil, England, Italy and Uruguay. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. In a change from the 1958 format,

was used to separate any teams equal on points. (In 1958, goal average was available, but was only between teams level on points in first place, or if a playoff between teams equal in second place failed to yield a result after extra time). Argentina became the first team in World Cup history to be eliminated on goal average when England advanced from Group 4 in second place. In the knockout games, if the teams were level after ninety minutes, thirty minutes of extra time were played. For any match other than the final, if the teams were still even after extra time then lots would be drawn to determine the winner. The final would have been replayed if still tied after extra time; but if still tied after the replay, the champion would have been decided by drawing lots. In the event, no replays or drawing of lots were necessary.

Summary

In May 1960, as the preparations were well under way, Chile suffered the largest earthquake ever recorded (9.5 magnitude), which caused enormous damage to the national infrastructure. In the face of this, Carlos Dittborn, the president of the Organization Committee, coined the phrase "Porque nada tenemos, lo haremos todo" (Because we have nothing, we will do everything). Stadia and other infrastructure were rebuilt at record speed and the tournament occurred on schedule with no major organisational flaw. Dittborn did not live to see the success of his efforts, as he died one month before the start of the tournament. The World Cup venue at Arica was named Estadio Carlos Dittborn in his honour and bears his name to this day. Even with these few and low-capacity stadiums Chile was able to meet the demand for seats as international travel to Chile, far-away for Europe, was minimal at the time. President Jorge Alessandri gave an uninspiring inaugural speech before the first match, which was played between Chile and Switzerland. Alessandri left however before the end of the match. While Chilean society was living in a "footballized" atmosphere, Alessandri was criticized for his cold attitude towards the tournament, which forced his ministers to come out and claim he was as "footballized" as everybody else, but was too busy to devote too much attention to the competition. The competition was marred by constant violence on the pitch. This poisonous atmosphere culminated in the first-round match between host Chile and

(2–0), known as the '' Battle of Santiago''. Two Italian journalists had written unflattering articles about the host country and its capital city; describing Santiago as a "proudly backwards and poverty-stricken dump full of prostitution and crime". Although only two players (both of them Italian) were sent off by the English referee Ken Aston, the match saw repeated attempts from players on both sides to harm opponents, and the Italian team needed police protection to leave the field in safety. Articles in the Italian papers ''La Nazione'' and ''Corriere della Sera'' were saying that allowing Chile to host the World Cup was "pure madness"; this was used and magnified by local newspapers to inflame the Chilean population. The British newspaper the Daily Express wrote "The tournament shows every sign of developing into a violent bloodbath. Reports read like battlefront despatches; the Italy vs West Germany match was described as 'wrestling and warfare'". As the competition began, a shift in strategy was imminent. Defensive strategies began to take hold as the average goals per match dropped to 2.78, under 3 for the first time in competition history (the average has never been above 3 since).

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

was injured in the second group match against Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union goalkeeper Lev Yashin, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world at the time, was in poor form and his team went out to

(1–2) in the quarter-finals. Bright spots included the emergence of the young Brazilians Amarildo (standing in for Pelé) and Garrincha, the heroics of Czechoslovakia goalkeeper Viliam Schrojf against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

, and the performance of the host nation Chile, who took third place with a squad of relatively unknown players.. This has been the best performance of a South American team in a World Cup so far without taking into account the historical ones (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay). In the first round, Brazil topped their group with

finishing second, above

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, even as the latter had in their ranks the naturalized Ferenc Puskás and Alfredo Di Stéfano who, injured, was called up but did not play. USSR and Yugoslavia finished above

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

and

. Hungary, along with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

progressed to the quarter-finals, while

and

were eliminated. England had the same number of points as Argentina but progressed due to a superior

; the first time such a requirement had been necessary in a World Cup finals tournament.

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

lost all three games while

and Chile both went through over Italy. Chile defeated European champions USSR to earn a semi-final game against the winner of the England – Brazil game. Garrincha scored two goals in a 3–1 win against England. Meanwhile, 1–0 wins for Yugoslavia against West Germany – and another 1–0 win of Czechoslovakia against neighbours Hungary – saw the two Slavic states meet in the semi-finals.

was the original venue for the South American semi-final and Santiago for the Slavic one, but due to Chile's surprise qualification, the organisers prompted FIFA to switch the venues. This irritated crowds in Viña del Mar and only a little under 6,000 spectators came to Estadio Sausalito to watch Czechoslovakia beat Yugoslavia 3–1, whereas a capacity crowd of 76,600 in Santiago watched Brazil beat the hosts 4–2. This game saw Garrincha sent off for Brazil and Honorino Landa sent off for Chile. Chile eventually took third place in a 1–0 victory over Yugoslavia with the last play of the match. The same player, Eladio Rojas, had also scored the winning goal in Chile's game against USSR.

's Estadio Nacional served as the venue for the final, and after 15 minutes, Brazil again found themselves a goal behind in the World Cup final, as a long ball from Adolf Scherer was latched onto by Josef Masopust: 1–0 Czechoslovakia. As in the previous final in 1958, Brazil soon hit back, equalising two minutes later through Amarildo after an error by Czechoslovak goalkeeper Schroijf. The Brazilians scored goals from Zito and Vavá (another Schrojf error) midway through the second half, and the Czechoslovaks could not get back into the game. The match ended 3–1 to Brazil, a successful defence of the title for only the second time in the history of the competition in spite of the absence of one of their star players of 1958, Pelé, who was replaced by Amarildo.

Group stage

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

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

Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Goalscorers

With four goals each, Flórián Albert, Garrincha, Valentin Ivanov, Dražan Jerković, Leonel Sánchez and Vavá were the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 89 goals were scored by 54 players, with none of them credited as own goal. ;4 goals * Garrincha * Vavá * Leonel Sánchez *

Flórián Albert Flórián György Albert (15 September 1941 – 31 October 2011) was a Hungarian professional football player, manager and sports official, who was named European Footballer of the Year in 1967. Nicknamed "The Emperor", he played as a forwa ...

* Valentin Ivanov * Dražan Jerković ;3 goals * Amarildo * Adolf Scherer *

Lajos Tichy Lajos Tichy (21 March 1935 – 6 January 1999), nicknamed "The Nation's Bomber", was a Hungarian footballer who played as a forward. He is the most prolific goalscorer in total matches in recorded history according to RSSSF with over 1917 ...

* Milan Galić ;2 goals * Jaime Ramírez * Eladio Rojas * Jorge Toro * Ron Flowers * Giacomo Bulgarelli * Igor Chislenko * Viktor Ponedelnik * José Sasía * Uwe Seeler ;1 goal * Héctor Facundo * José Sanfilippo *

* Mário Zagallo * Zito * Georgi Sokolov * Germán Aceros * Marcos Coll * Marino Klinger * Antonio Rada * Francisco Zuluaga * Josef Kadraba * Václav Mašek * Josef Masopust * Jozef Štibrányi * Bobby Charlton * Jimmy Greaves * Gerry Hitchens * Ernő Solymosi * Bruno Mora * Alfredo del Águila *

Isidoro Díaz Isidoro Díaz Mejía (born 14 February 1938) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Isidoro Díaz played most of his club career for C.D. Guadalajara, Guadalajara, where he won ...

* Héctor Hernández * Aleksei Mamykin * Adelardo * Joaquín Peiró * Heinz Schneiter * Rolf Wüthrich * Ángel Cabrera *

Luis Cubilla Luis Alberto Cubilla Almeida (28 March 1940 – 3 March 2013) was a Uruguayan professional association football, footballer and manager (association football), manager. He had a successful playing career winning 16 major titles. He then went on ...

* Albert Brülls * Horst Szymaniak *

Vojislav Melić Vojislav "Vojkan" Melić (Serbian Cyrillic: Војислав Војкан Мелић; 5 January 1940 – 7 April 2006) was a Yugoslavian footballer. He was one of the most versatile and skilled players that Yugoslavia had in 1960s. Vojislav spen ...

* Petar Radaković * Josip Skoblar

FIFA retrospective ranking

In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition. The rankings for the 1962 tournament were as follows:

Footnotes

External links

1962 FIFA World Cup Chile
FIFA.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:1962 Fifa World Cup

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

FIFA World Cup tournaments World Cup International association football competitions hosted by Chile May 1962 sports events in South America June 1962 sports events in South America