WThe 1973 play-off for a place in the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, between the national football teams of the Soviet Union and Chile, is notable for the political circumstances that marked the second leg of the play-off on 21 November 1973. It was scheduled to take place in the Estadio Nacional de Chile in Santiago, the Chilean capital. There had been a coup d'état in Chile two months before, immediately after which people deemed undesirable to the new regime of Augusto Pinochet had been held captive and executed in the stadium. The Soviet Union asked FIFA to find a different venue in Chile; when agreement could not be reached, the Soviet team did not take the field and was disqualified from the tournament, giving the Chilean team a victory by walkover. However, the match was still organised by FIFA as normal, but without any away team present. Chile scored 1–0 in an empty goal, and then the referee blew the game off. Chile advanced to the 1974 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the first round.
WOn 21 June 1998, Daniel Nivel, member of the National Gendarmerie was assaulted in the city of Lens by German football hooligans during the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He fell into a six-week coma and was left with permanent disability.
WTofiq Bahramov was a Soviet footballer and football referee from Azerbaijan.
WThe Battle of Santiago was a football match during the 1962 FIFA World Cup, played between host Chile and Italy on 2 June 1962 in Santiago. It gained its nickname from the level of violence seen in the game, in which two players were sent off, numerous punches were thrown and police intervention was required four times. The referee was Ken Aston, who later went on to invent yellow and red cards.
WThe Brazil versus Germany football match that took place on 8 July 2014 at the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte was the first of two semi-final matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
WIn 2015, U.S. federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.
WThe "Disgrace of Gijón" is the name given to a 1982 FIFA World Cup football match played between West Germany and Austria at the El Molinón stadium in Gijón, Spain, on 25 June 1982. The match was the last game of the first-round Group 2, with Algeria and Chile having played the day before. With the outcome of that match already decided, a win by one or two goals for West Germany would result in both West Germany and Austria qualifying at the expense of Algeria, who had defeated West Germany in the first game. West Germany took the lead after 10 minutes, after which the remaining 80 minutes were characterized by few serious scoring attempts on either side. Both teams were accused of match-fixing, although FIFA ruled that neither team broke any rules.
WThere were disturbances before and after two international association football matches between Egypt and Algeria in November 2009, leading to diplomatic tensions between Egypt, Algeria, and Sudan. The matches were in Group C in the CAF section of the qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
WThe 1966 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 30 July 1966 to determine the winner of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth FIFA World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany, with England winning 4–2 after extra time to claim the Jules Rimet Trophy. It was the first – and to date only – occasion that England has hosted or won the World Cup. This remains England's only major tournament win and last final at a major international football tournament for 55 years, until 2021 when the nation reached the UEFA Euro 2020 Final at the new Wembley Stadium.
WThe Maracanazo of the Chilean team was an incident that happened during the football match between Brazil and Chile at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on 3 September 1989, in which Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas pretended to be injured by a flare thrown by Brazilian fans. The incident is considered by historians and football experts as one of the most shameful events in world football. The incident resulted in Chile being banned from qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, and ended Rojas' career, as he was banned for life.
WJosip "Joe" Šimunić is a Croatian retired footballer and current manager of the Croatia national under-19 team.
WFrom March to May 1998, a terror plot against the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France was uncovered by European law enforcement. More than 100 people were arrested in seven countries as a result of the plot. Organised by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and backed by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the plot is thought to have targeted the England–Tunisia match on 15 June 1998, and involved infiltrating the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille in order to attack players and spectators during the game, attack the hotel in Paris hosting the United States national team, and finally hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant near Poitiers.