A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| World Cup USA '94 | |
|---|---|
 Making Soccer History | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | June 17 – July 17 |
| Teams | 24 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 9 (in 9 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Brazil (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Italy |
| Third place |  Sweden |
| Fourth place |  Bulgaria |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 141 (2.71 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,597,042 (69,174 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Hristo Stoichkov Oleg Salenko(6 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Romário |
| Best young player |  Marc Overmars |
| Best goalkeeper |  Michel Preud'homme |
| Fair play award | Brazil |
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988.[1] Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful[2][3] in World Cup history. It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3,587,538 and an average of 68,991 per game,[4] figures that stood unsurpassed as of 2022[5] despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the 1998 World Cup.[6]
Brazil was crowned the winner after defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, near Los Angeles, after the game had ended 0–0 after extra time. It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. There were three new entrants in the tournament: Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia; Russia also appeared as a separate nation for the first time, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and for the first time since 1938, a unified Germany took part in the tournament. They were also defending champions, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Bulgaria. It was the first World Cup where three points were awarded for a victory instead of two and also the first with the back-pass rule. This was done to encourage a more attacking style of soccer as a response to the criticism of the defensive tactics and low-scoring matches of the 1990 World Cup. This resulted in an average of 2.71 goals per match, compared to 2.21 in 1990.
Background and preparations
Bidding process
Three nations bid to host the event: United States, Brazil, and Morocco.[7] The vote was held in Zurich on July 4, 1988 (Independence Day in the United States), and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the FIFA Executive Committee members.[7] FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport.[8]
An inspection committee also found that the proposed Brazilian stadiums were deficient, while the Moroccan bid relied on the construction of nine new stadiums. Conversely, all the proposed stadiums in the United States were already built and fully functioning; U.S. Soccer spent $500 million preparing and organizing the tournament, far less than the billions other countries previously had spent and subsequently would spend on preparing for this tournament.[9] The U.S. bid was seen as the favorite and was prepared in response to losing the right to be the replacement host for the 1986 tournament following Colombia's withdrawal.[10]
One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league – Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996.[11] There was some initial controversy[12] about awarding the World Cup to a country where soccer was not a nationally popular sport, and at the time, in 1988,[13] the U.S. no longer had a professional league; the North American Soccer League, established in 1967, had folded in 1984 after attendance faded.[12] The success of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, particularly the soccer tournament that drew 1.4 million spectators throughout the event, also contributed to FIFA's decision.[14]
The United States had previously bid to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup, after Colombia withdrew as the host nation in November 1982 because of economic concerns. Despite a presentation led by former North American Soccer League players Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, as well as former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the executive committee selected Mexico.[15] There were proposals by FIFA to introduce larger goals and breaks after every quarter instead of just at half-time in order to appease U.S. television advertisers.[16][17][18] These proposals were met with resistance,[19] and ultimately rejected.
Venues
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2019) |
 | This section possibly contains original research. (February 2024) |
The games were played in nine cities across the contiguous United States.[20] All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53,000 and were occupied by professional or college American football teams.[21]
Other host city candidates included Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Tampa, as well as smaller communities such as Annapolis, Maryland, Columbus, Ohio, Corvallis, Oregon, and New Haven, Connecticut.[22] Some sites, including Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and Candlestick Park in San Francisco, were rejected because of conflicts with Major League Baseball. Stanford Stadium, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of San Francisco,[23][24] and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida were picked (the Miami Orange Bowl, another Miami venue, required major renovations to meet tournament standards).[25]
The Rose Bowl hosted the most matches with eight, four of them in the knockout stage, including the final. Giants Stadium hosted seven games including a semi-final; Foxborough Stadium, Stanford Stadium, and the Cotton Bowl hosted six games each, and Soldier Field, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, and the Citrus Bowl hosted five games each. Pontiac Silverdome, the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup, hosted the least number of matches, four group-stage games. The Silverdome was also the only venue of the nine used that did not host knockout round games.[citation needed]
Because of the large area of the continental United States, the game locations were often far apart. Some teams in Groups A and B had to travel from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Detroit and back again, covering 2,300 miles (3,700 km) and four time zones.[citation needed] Teams in Groups C and D only played in Boston, Chicago, and Dallas—a trip from Boston to Dallas is 2,000 miles (3,200 km), but only covers two time zones; Chicago is in the same time zone as Dallas but is still 1,000 miles (1,600 km) away from both Dallas and Boston.[original research?] Teams in Groups E and F had it a bit easier[neutrality is disputed]—they played exclusively in East Coast cities and stayed in the same time zone.[citation needed] A few teams, such as Cameroon and Colombia, did not have to cross the country to play games.[original research?][clarification needed]
The variety of climates in different cities across the United States also sometimes made playing conditions challenging.[original research?] Aside from the oceanic coolness of Boston (Foxborough), the Mediterranean climate of San Francisco (Stanford), and occasionally the coolness of Chicago, as they had been in Mexico in 1970 and 1986 most matches were played in hot and/or humid conditions, thanks to nearly all of the games being scheduled to be played during the day instead of at night to suit a time difference compromise for television in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East;[original research?] this had always been done every time a World Cup was held in the Americas.[citation needed] Although playing in the mostly dry heat and smoggy conditions of Los Angeles (Pasadena) and the mixture of heat and humidity of Washington and New Jersey sometimes proved to be difficult, the cities with the most consistently oppressive conditions were Orlando and Dallas in the South, because of the combination of heat and extreme humidity.[26] The Floridian tropical climate of Orlando meant all games there were played in temperatures of 95 °F (35 °C) or above with dew points above 70 or more (the temperature there during the group stage game between Mexico and Ireland was 105 °F (41 °C)) due to the mid-day start times.[27] Dallas was not much different: in the humid heat of a Texas summer, temperatures exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) during mid-day, when games there were staged in the open-type Cotton Bowl meant that conditions were just as oppressive there as they were in Orlando.[28] Detroit also proved to be difficult: the Pontiac Silverdome did not have a working cooling system and because it was an air-supported stadium, the air could not escape through circulation, so temperatures inside the stadium would climb past 90 °F (32 °C) with 40% humidity. United States midfielder Thomas Dooley described the Silverdome as "the worst place I have ever played at".[29]
Since the tournament, Pontiac Silverdome, Giants Stadium, and Foxboro Stadium have been demolished, and RFK Stadium is slated for demolition by 2023[needs update].[30] Stanford Stadium, the Cotton Bowl, the Citrus Bowl (now Camping World Stadium), and Soldier Field have all been moderately or heavily modified.[citation needed] The Rose Bowl is[when?] the only largely unmodified stadium used for this tournament.[citation needed]
| Los Angeles (Pasadena, California) |
San Francisco (Stanford, California) |
Detroit (Pontiac, Michigan) |
New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, New Jersey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | Stanford Stadium | Pontiac Silverdome | Giants Stadium |
| Capacity: 94,194 | Capacity: 84,147 | Capacity: 77,557 | Capacity: 76,322 |
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| Dallas |
1994 FIFA World Cup (the United States) | ||
| Cotton Bowl | |||
| Capacity: 64,000 | |||
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| Chicago | Orlando | Boston (Foxborough, Massachusetts) |
Washington, D.C. |
| Soldier Field | Citrus Bowl | Foxboro Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium |
| Capacity: 63,160 | Capacity: 62,387 | Capacity: 54,456 | Capacity: 53,121 |
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Participating teams and officials
Qualification
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2021) |
Three teams: one African, one Asian, and one European, made their debuts at the 1994 tournament. Nigeria qualified from the African zone alongside Cameroon and Morocco as CAF was granted three spots as a result of the strong performances by African teams in 1986 and 1990. In the Asian zone, Saudi Arabia qualified for the first time by topping the final round group ahead of South Korea as both edged out Japan, who was close to making its own World Cup debut, but was denied by Iraq in what became known as the "Agony of Doha". In the European zone, Greece made their first World Cup appearance after topping a group from which Russia also qualified, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup. Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950 (and the last time as of 2022), and Switzerland for the first time since 1966. Norway's 56-year gap between appearances in the final tournament equaled Egypt's record in the previous tournament as the longest. This record was later broken by Wales when they qualified for the 2022 tournament, after a 64-year absence. Mexico had its first successful qualification campaign since 1978, failing to qualify in 1982, qualifying as hosts in 1986 and being banned for the Cachirules scandal in 1990.
The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993, completing its qualifying group under the name "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks" (RCS), but failed to qualify for the finals, having been edged out by Romania and Belgium in Group 4. Yugoslavia (which was supposed to play in Group 5) was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chile's suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the forced interruption of their qualification game against Brazil, extended to the 1994 qualifiers as well.
This was the first World Cup since World War II in which none of the UK Home Nations of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales[31] qualified (they withdrew their FIFA memberships between 1928 and 1946, during the first three tournaments), with England (finishing third behind Norway and Netherlands in Group 2) missing out after having finished fourth in the 1990 tournament, and Scotland (who finished fourth in Group 1) failing to qualify for the first time since 1970.[32] France, who had been already designated as hosts of the 1998 tournament, also missed out following surprise home losses to Israel and Bulgaria.[33] This was the second World Cup in a row for which France had failed to qualify, and the last one to date not to feature England, France, and Japan. Other notable absentees were 1986 and 1990 Round of 16 participants Uruguay, UEFA Euro 1992 champions Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Hungary.
List of qualified teams
The following 24 teams, shown with their pre-tournament FIFA World Ranking (in parentheses) from June 1994,[34] qualified for the final tournamentː
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 Countries qualified for World Cup Country failed to qualify Countries that did not enter or were banned from the World Cup Country not a FIFA member
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Squads
Teams were selected following usual FIFA rules with 22 players. Greece, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Spain were the only countries that had all their players coming from domestic teams, while the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria had no players from domestic teams. Saudi Arabia was the only team with no players from European teams.
Referees
Draw
Seeding and drawing
The FIFA Organizing Committee upheld the tradition to seed the hosts (United States) and holders (Germany), along with the other four teams ranked in the top five based on their results obtained in the last three FIFA World Cups. The newly introduced FIFA World Ranking was not used as part of the calculated ranking for the seeding in this World Cup, as FIFA considered it to be too new.[35] Despite that it was not used in any way, for comparison purposes the teams' pre-tournament FIFA World ranking position from June 1994 are shown in parentheses,[36] followed by the official and used ranking (OR) position determined by the results obtained in the last three world cups.
The six top-seeded teams, were allocated in pot 1 and would be drawn into the first position of the six groups playing in the group stage. The remaining 18 teams were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections, with the: six qualified teams from Africa and Americas in pot 2, the top-6 ranked European teams in pot 3, while pot 4 comprised the 7th-10th best qualified European teams along with the two qualified Asian teams.
The principle of the draw was that each of the six drawn groups would have one team drawn respectively from pot 1, 2, 3 and 4; while respecting the following geographical limitations:
- At least two European teams from UEFA in all groups, with one group having three European teams.
- United States and Mexico could not be drawn in the same group, because only one CONCACAF team per group.
- Brazil and Argentina could not be drawn with another South American team, because only one CONMEBOL team per group.
- As all qualified Asian teams from AFC were in pot 4, and all qualified African teams from CAF in pot 2, this automatically ensured only allowing maximum one Asian team and maximum one African team per group, as part of the normal draw procedure - without needing to observe special restricting sub-rules for them.