This FDC and the two lovely stamps on it talk of slightly better times when the Spaniards were hosts at the World Cup in 1982. We must also not forget that the Spaniards were the World Champions in 2010. One FDC is postmarked in Bilbao. The cover shows players in action and the Coat of Arms of Bilbao. The other FDC is postmarked in Vigo. The cover shows players in action and the Coat of Arms of Vigo.
The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982.
The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final. It was Italy's third World Cup win and first since 1938. The holders Argentina were eliminated in the second group round. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand made their first appearances in the finals.
The tournament's top scorer was Paolo Rossi of Italy with six goals, including a hat-trick in a second group game against Brazil and one in the final.
In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, tying the largest margin of victory ever recorded in the finals (Hungary over Korea 9–0 in 1954, and Yugoslavia over Zaire 9–0 in 1974). The tournament was also notable for the first ever penalty shoot-out in a World Cup finals tournament, with West Germany beating France 5–4 on penalties after a dramatic 3–3 draw in the semi-finals in a match often regarded as one of the best World Cup games of all time.
On the subject of World Cup Football, a controversy has started on the subject of moving the 2018 WC from Russia because of their alleged involvement in the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
Thank you Maria for these lovely covers.
The recent world cup in Brazil has been a blast to watch. Although the team I was rooting for did not exactly make it to the finals, it was a lot of fun watching the game even if it is just on TV thanks to HD quality feed and TVs.
ReplyDeleteI happen to find your informative and interesting site while I was browsing on one of my favorite online stamp catalogues, which can be found on StampWorld.com. When you browse their online catalogue, register for a free account, and you can check out their Advanced Search (Motive: Sport, Football, FIFA/UEFA/World Cup). I’m sure you will learn a lot more about the history of this awesome football sport.