2 ‘Political’ World Cup matches: what’s your view?

Figure 2 Italy v Chile, 1962 World Cup.

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A black-and-white photograph of the Italy and Chile players at the 1962 World Cup.

Figure 2 Italy v Chile, 1962 World Cup.

Listed below are several examples where politics and rivalries have intersected and played into World Cup matches, including qualifiers. This is not an exhaustive list of so-called ‘political’ matches. Perhaps you can think of others. If you aren’t familiar with some of these examples, why not have a quick read about them before you move onto the next activity.

1. Italy vs France (1938 men’s quarter-final) – authoritarian fascism’s clash with a democracy.
2. Honduras vs El Salvador (1970 men’s qualifier) – neighbourly rivalry culminating in the Hundred Hours’ War conflict.
3. West Germany vs East Germany (1974 men’s group stage) – neighbourly and ideological rivalry formed in the aftermath of the Second World War and re-entry into international football in the 1950s.
4. Argentina vs Peru (1978 men’s second-round group stage) – non-rivalry but instead: neighbourly collusion in claimed match fixing.
5. England vs Argentina (1986 men’s quarter-final) – wartime conflict fixture four years after the Falklands War.
6. United States vs Iran (1998 men’s group stage) – ideological rivalry forged in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution (1978–79), including Iranian hostage-taking crisis (1979–81).
7. United States vs China PR (1999 women’s final) – ideological rivalry of capitalism vs authoritarian communism.

Now get going with the first example, which is often quoted as being one of the most political matches in World Cup history, and from which the shirt of the leading protagonist was sold for £7.1m in 2022.