1990 FIFA World Cup

• 1. Introduction

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  The 1990 FIFA World Cup produced just 2.21 goals per game. That number, still a record low in World Cup history, tells you almost everything about a tournament that was simultaneously panned for its defensive grimness and celebrated for the moments it burned into memory. Held across twelve Italian cities from the 8th of June to the 8th of July 1990, it drew an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers worldwide. It was also the last tournament where a team called West Germany would ever play, the final appearance for the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia as nations, and the stage where a 38-year-old forward named Roger Milla made African football matter to the world. How does a tournament that barely anyone enjoyed watching become one of the most consequential in the sport's history? That is the question this documentary will answer.

• 2. Italy Wins the Host Vote

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  On the 19th of May 1984, in Zurich, the FIFA Executive Committee voted 11 to 5 to award the 1990 tournament to Italy over the Soviet Union. The decision was controversial the moment it was announced. Soviet state media accused FIFA of political corruption and pointed at American sponsors, particularly Coca-Cola, as having influenced the outcome. The Soviet announcement of a boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games, made just days before the FIFA vote, was widely seen as the factor that swung Italy's margin of victory so decisively, though FIFA President Joao Havelange denied it.

  For Italy, hosting the World Cup was a return to familiar ground. They had staged the event before, in 1934, and had won it. Only Mexico had previously hosted twice, having stepped in to replace Colombia for the 1986 edition. Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany, and Yugoslavia all submitted initial applications, but by early 1984 the field had narrowed to a straight contest between Italy and the Soviets.

  Iran had also put forward a proposal to FIFA as early as 1977, but withdrew that same year. The selection left Italy with a massive construction project: twelve stadiums in twelve cities needed to be ready, and the total bill would ultimately exceed 550 million pounds, roughly 935 million dollars at the time. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome, which would host the final, turned out to be the most expensive single project of all.

• 3. England on an Island

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  The British government made a specific request before the tournament began: keep England's group stage matches away from the Italian mainland. Hooliganism had shadowed English football for much of the 1980s, with the most devastating episode coming at the 1985 European Cup Final in Brussels, where 39 people, mostly Juventus supporters, were killed and 600 were injured trying to flee from an attack by Liverpool supporters. By 1990 the distrust of English fans had grown severe enough that FIFA and Italian authorities agreed to place England in the group based in Cagliari and Palermo, cities on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily.

  The arrangement was shaped partly by seeding politics. Spain's coach Luis Suarez openly accused FIFA of engineering England's seeding position to justify sending them to Cagliari, stating "We feel we've been cheated. They wanted to seed England and to send it to Cagliari at all costs. So they invented this formula." FIFA denied it, pointing to England's performances at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups as the basis for their sixth seeding.

  Whatever the motivation, the security operation in Cagliari was formidable: 7,000 local police, Carabinieri, and special forces of the Italian military were all deployed. There were still riots during England's matches there, with injuries, arrests, and deportations following. British Sports Minister Colin Moynihan's public comments disparaging English fans weeks before the tournament were later judged to have inflamed the situation further.

• 4. The Cameroon Eruption

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  On the 8th of June 1990, in Milan, Cameroon beat the reigning world champions Argentina 1-0 in the tournament's opening match. Francois Omam-Biyik scored the winner with a downward header; his brother Andre Kana-Biyik had been sent off for a serious foul shortly before. Cameroon finished the match with nine men and still held on.

  What followed was the tournament's defining story. Roger Milla, a 38-year-old forward who had been in international retirement, had returned to the squad at the personal request of Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Milla came off the bench repeatedly, scoring four goals in total, including two against Colombia in extra time in the Round of 16. His second in that match came after Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita wandered far from his goal and was stripped of the ball by Milla, who walked the ball into the net. Milla's goal celebrations became iconic.

  Most of Cameroon's squad played in France's Ligue 1, a legacy of Cameroon's history as a former French territory where French remains an official language. By reaching the quarter-finals, they went further than any African team had ever managed at a World Cup. FIFA's response was concrete: the CAF qualifying zone was awarded an additional place for the next tournament. That quarter-final record would stand for over three decades, until Morocco reached the semi-final in 2022.

• 5. Negative Tactics and New Rules

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  Argentina arrived at the tournament without three of their best players, all injured, and scored only five goals over the entire competition. That figure was a record low for a finalist. They became the first team to advance twice through penalty shootouts, and the first team to fail to score and have a player sent off in a World Cup final. Pedro Monzon, himself a substitute, was sent off in the 65th minute against West Germany, the first dismissal in a final.

  The 85th-minute penalty that decided the match was awarded by Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal after Roberto Sensini fouled Rudi Voller. An earlier foul in the same box had not been called, and German commentators speculated the decision was a compensatory one. Andreas Brehme converted.

  The tournament as a whole recorded 16 red cards, a then-record for a 24-team World Cup. The pattern of teams playing defensively for 120 minutes to force a penalty shootout prompted the sport's governing bodies to act. The International Football Association Board introduced the back-pass rule in time for the 1994 tournament, making it harder for goalkeepers to pick up deliberate passes from teammates. Three points for a win, instead of two, was also brought in to reward attacking play. Both rules remain in place today.

• 6. Historic Ends and Last Appearances

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  The 1990 World Cup was the last tournament for several national teams that would never compete again under the same names or political configurations. West Germany won the title in what was literally its final match as a nation: in October 1990, just months after the final, West Germany and East Germany were reunified. Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia also made their final appearances at a World Cup Finals, all before their respective dissolutions following the end of the Cold War in 1991.

  For other nations it was a debut. Costa Rica, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates appeared for the first time. The United Arab Emirates, as of 2026, have never qualified again. Egypt returned for the first time since 1934. The United States competed for the first time since 1950, and would not miss another World Cup until 2018. Colombia appeared for the first time since 1962.

  West German manager Franz Beckenbauer became, on the 8th of July 1990, the first person to both captain a World Cup winning team and manage one, having lifted the trophy as captain in 1974. Only Brazil's Mario Zagallo had previously won the World Cup as both player and manager. With the title, West Germany joined Italy and Brazil as the most successful World Cup nations at that time, each having won three tournaments.

• 7. Television, Pavarotti, and Legacy

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  The 1990 World Cup was the first ever officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV, through a joint venture between Italian broadcaster RAI and Japan's NHK. The 26.69 billion non-unique viewers it gathered made it the most watched World Cup in history at the time, a figure later surpassed only by the 1994 and 2002 editions.

  On the 7th of July, the night before the third-place match featuring hosts Italy, the first ever joint concert of The Three Tenors was held. Luciano Pavarotti performed "Nessun dorma" that evening. The concert, and the aria specifically, became inseparable from the tournament's cultural memory.

  The draw ceremony itself had featured Pavarotti alongside actress Sophia Loren and FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter, with television presenter Pippo Baudo hosting. The official song, "Un'estate italiana", was performed by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini, with the music by Giorgio Moroder. The tournament's mascot was Ciao, a stick figure with a football for a head and a body in the Italian tricolour that spelled out "ITALIA" when deconstructed.

  In England, the semi-final run at Italia 90 had a measurable effect on the domestic game. English top-flight football had spent the 1980s damaged by on-pitch violence and spectator hooliganism. The national team's performance in Italy helped reverse that decline, contributing to the conditions that saw the top-flight restructure and grow through the 1990s. Salvatore Schillaci, who scored six goals and won the Golden Boot, had played only one international before the tournament began.