FIFA World Cup 1990
The 14th World Cup finals were awarded to Italy by the FIFA Executive Committee in May 1984 ahead of a bid by the Soviet Union. Marketed as Italia '90, the tournament produced just 2.21 goals per game, the lowest ever. The negative tactics that dominated led FIFA to amend the Laws of the Game to prohibit goalkeepers from picking up the ball when passed back from a team mate to reduce time wasting.
In 1987 the European TV rights for the next three World Cups had been sold for $440m, a decision that marked a key stage in FIFA's transformation into a multi-billion dollar global business. The tournament was watched by a record 26.69 billion television viewers.
Twelve venues were selected in as many cities including new stadia in Bari and Turin. The other ten were extensively redeveloped at a cost of $935m (£550m). The results were often architecturally stunning.
Much of the detailing for this section has been sourced from switchimageproject.com and oldfootballshirts.com.
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Knock Out Stages
1986 | World Cup Index | 1994