The 1980–81 FIFA World Champions' Gold Cup ( Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was an 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 ...

tournament organized by the

Uruguayan Football Association The Uruguayan Football Association ( — ) is the governing body of association football, football in Uruguay. It was founded in 1900, as The Uruguayan Association Football League, and affiliated to FIFA in 1923. It is a founding member of CONMEB ...

and supported by FIFA and recognized before its inception by then FIFA President João Havelange. At the July 4, 1980 FIFA congress, the president publicly stated: "At FIFA we have welcomed the initiative of the Uruguayan Football Association, granting official status to the Gold Cup. FIFA actively participates in the organization and offers its experience." The tournament commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first FIFA World Cup, which had been celebrated in 1930 at the same venue. It was held at the Centenario Stadium in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

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 ...

, from 30 December 1980 to 10 January 1981. The tournament gathered the national teams of

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

, five of the six World Cup-winning nations at the time, with the addition of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

– 1974 and

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

World Cup runners-up– who had been invited to replace

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 ...

, who declined the invitation. After the final, FIFA celebrated the success of the tournament via their official newsletter, declaring Uruguay as "champions of all world champions."

Participating teams

Format

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

Squads

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

Outcome

Uruguay and Brazil won their respective groups and played the final, with Uruguay defeating Brazil 2–1 with a late goal, the same result that had occurred 30 years earlier between the two teams in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup. Uruguay's coach during the Mundialito, Roque Máspoli, had also been Uruguay's goalkeeper in the 1950 match. Dutch manager Jan Zwartkruis resigned from his position as soon as he returned to the Netherlands, while Leopoldo Luque and Rainer Bonhof never represented their country again.

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Final

Scorers

;3 goals * Waldemar Victorino ;1 goal * Ramón Díaz *

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

* Edevaldo * Junior * Serginho *

Sócrates Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply known as Sócrates , was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder. His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with s ...

* Toninho Cerezo * Zé Sérgio * Klaus Allofs * Horst Hrubesch * Jan Peters *

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti (; born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Brazil national team. Nicknamed "Carletto" in Italy and "Don Carlo" in Spain, he is regarded as one of the greatest ...

* Jorge Barrios * Julio Morales * Venancio Ramos ;Own goals *

Manfred Kaltz Manfred Kaltz (born 6 January 1953) is a German former football player and manager, who played as a right-back. Kaltz played in the Bundesliga for Hamburger SV and 13 times (one goal) for FC Mulhouse in Ligue 1 after initially joining Mulhouse ...

(against Argentina)

References

{{Friendly association football tournaments in South America 1980 Mundialito m m m m m m m m m m m m w w m m m m