Fifa World Cup history

A new trophy was created for the 1974 edition, held in West Germany.

The tournament also saw a new format, where the two top teams from each of four Round 1 groups went through into two groups of four for Round 2, with the winner of each group facing each other in the final.

There was controversy in the qualifiers as the Soviet Union refused to travel to play Chile in the first Uefa/Conmebol intercontinental play-off match. As a result, the Soviets were disqualified and Chile booked their place at the tournament. East Germany, Haiti, Australia and Zaire made their finals debuts.

The West Germans won the competition by beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final, but it was the revolutionary ‘Total Football’ system of the Netherlands that captured the world’s imagination.

The fluent Poland finished third, after defeating Brazil 1-0. They had also defeated Argentina 3-2 and eliminated Italy 2-1 in initial group play, but lost 1-0 in a downpour in the semi-finals to West Germany.