On 21 December 1983,

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 ...

played

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

in the last qualification match for

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. Needing a victory by no less than 11 goals to qualify, Spain won the match 12–1. The game is often described as one of the most important in the Spanish national team's history.

Background

With only the group winner getting a spot in the finals, 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 ...

had defeated Malta 5–0 four days before, and had finished their qualification schedule on top of the group with 13 points and a

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

of +16. By winning their final qualifier Spain would also finish on 13 points, and goal difference would decide the group winner. Spain's goal difference was +5 before the match; if it also reached +16, then the total number of goals scored by Spain would surpass that of the Netherlands, putting Spain ahead. Therefore, the team needed a win by a margin of 11 or more goals. Spain had only managed to score 12 goals in their seven matches in the group until then. Before the game the Maltese goalkeeper John Bonello said: "I wouldn't return to my country if they scored 11 goals." Going into the match, the

Group 7 Group 7 may refer to: * G7, an international group of finance minister *Group 7 element, chemical element classification *Halogens The halogens () are a group (periodic table), group in the periodic table consisting of six chemically related c ...

table stood as follows:

Match

Summary

's only chance of qualifying for Euro 1984 was to defeat

by at least 11 goals. In the second minute of the match, Spain were awarded a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

after a foul on

Francisco José Carrasco Francisco José Carrasco Hidalgo (born 6 March 1959) is a Spanish former football player and manager. Nicknamed Lobo, he played as a winger and spent most of his 14-year professional career with Barcelona (11 seasons). He won ten major titles ...

inside the box. However, Juan Antonio Señor subsequently missed the penalty in the fourth minute after the shot deflected back off the left post and was cleared by a Maltese defender for a corner. After Santillana opened the scoring for Spain in the 15th minute, Malta's

Michael Degiorgio Michael Degiorgio (born 15 November 1962) is a Maltese former professional footballer. Degiorgio played as a midfielder until the end of his career, when he switched to a central defender. Degiorgio started his career with Hamrun Spartans and ...

levelled the score 1–1 in the 24th minute. When half-time came and the scoreline was 3–1 to Spain, few expected them to score enough goals to qualify. However, Juan Antonio Señor, who had missed the early penalty, scored Spain's 12th and last goal in the 88th minute;

Rafael Gordillo Rafael Gordillo Vázquez (born 24 February 1957) is a Spanish retired footballer. A tremendously attacking left wing-back, equally at ease as defender and midfielder and with a good effort rate, he had an unmistakable style of playing with his ...

nearly scored a 13th in the final minutes of the game but it was disallowed by the referee. That did not matter, however, as the Spaniards won by the 11-goal margin required for them to beat the Netherlands to qualification.

Details

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:50 PlotArea = left:15 bottom:10 top:10 right:15 Period = from:0 till:90 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal Colors = id:SPA value:red id:MAL value:gray(0.5) id:lightgreen value:rgb(0.6,1,0.6) BackgroundColors = canvas:lightgreen LineData = from:0 till:90 atpos:25 color:black at:15 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:24 frompos:10 tillpos:20 color:MAL at:26 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:28 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:45 frompos:0 tillpos:50 color:blue at:46 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:55 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:60 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:62 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:63 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:75 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:78 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:79 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA at:84 frompos:30 tillpos:40 color:SPA

Aftermath

The match was broadcast by

Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...

in Spain. Afterwards, in Malta, many claimed that the Maltese were paid to not play their best and to let Spain win by a large margin, and it was rumoured that words had been exchanged between Maltese and Spanish officials and players at half-time. In March 2018, two Maltese players, Silvio Demanuele and

Carmel Busuttil Carmel Busuttil (born 29 February 1964), nicknamed "Il-Bużu", is a Maltese former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best Maltese players of all time, he began his career with his hometown club Rabat Aja ...

, claimed that Spain had been using doping as "they had foam in their mouths and could not stop drinking water". They also claim the Maltese players were drugged via lemon wedges during halftime. However, as of 2018, no evidence has come forth to support these allegations. The

Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League for both men and women and several other competitions, including knockout competitions ...

launched an inquiry into the result, and its chairman George Abela (later the

President of Malta The president of Malta () is the constitutional head of state of Malta. The president is indirect election, indirectly elected by the House of Representatives of Malta, which appoints the president for a five-year term and requires them to sw ...

) brought about changes to the national team. Abela said that a lack of facilities meant that the team lacked serious professional preparation for a tournament such as the European Championships, and the closeness of away fixtures (Malta had played in the Netherlands only four days before their 12–1 loss in Seville) was a further hindrance and such scheduling would be avoided in future.

Final table

Spain and the Netherlands finished the qualification stage level on 13 points, level on

, but Spain qualified on goals scored (24, compared to 22 for the Netherlands).

Records

*The match produced the second-largest win in

's history (the largest was 13–0 against

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 ...

in 1933), and

's largest loss. *The four goals scored by Santillana put him as the top goalscorer in qualifying group 7.

References

External links

Integral video of the game 'ESP 12–1 MLT'
rtve.es {{DEFAULTSORT:Spain 12-1 Malta UEFA European Championship matches UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

December 1983 sports events in Europe Football competitions in Seville 20th century in Seville Malta–Spain relations Association football matches in Spain