Italia 90 was so short of goals it changed football's rules
The 1990 World Cup in Italy averaged just 2.21 goals a match, still the lowest ever, along with a then-record 16 red cards. Yet this dour tournament reshaped the sport: it led to the back-pass rule and three points for a win, and gave the world Pavarotti singing Nessun dorma.
FIFA chose Italy on 19 May 1984, voting 11 to 5 against the Soviet Union, the only rival left after England and Greece withdrew. The Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics, announced on the eve of the vote, was widely thought to have sunk Moscow's bid, though FIFA's president denied it. Italy thus became only the second country, after Mexico, to host the finals twice, spending over £550 million on stadiums, including two brand-new grounds in Bari and Turin.
The tournament ran from 8 June to 8 July. West Germany won its third title by beating holders Argentina 1–0 in Rome, a rematch of the 1986 final, which also saw the first sending-off in a World Cup final. Italy and England both lost their semi-finals on penalties. Cameroon became the first African side to reach the quarter-finals, while three newcomers took the field for the first time: Costa Rica, Ireland and the Emirates, the last of which has never qualified again. It was the last World Cup for West Germany, reunified with the East that October, and the final appearance for the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Off the pitch, fears about hooliganism led the British government to have England play every group game on Sardinia, under heavy security. Referees wore traditional black at a World Cup for the last time. On July 7, the eve of the final, the Three Tenors gave their first joint concert, and Pavarotti's aria became the tournament's anthem.
Its legacy was larger than its football. Negative tactics prompted the 1992 back-pass rule, and England's run helped revive its domestic game. The pre-match Fair Play flag first appeared. With an estimated 26.69 billion cumulative viewers, it was then the most-watched World Cup and the first broadcast in high definition, a joint project of Italy's RAI and Japan's NHK.
Source: 1990 FIFA World Cup
