The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so, and withdrew in November 1982. Mexico was selected as the new host in May 1983, and became the first country to host the World Cup more than once, after previously hosting the 1970 edition.
The World Cup was won by Argentina (their second title, after winning in 1978). Argentina was captained by the 25-year-old Diego Maradona, who played a large part in his team's success by scoring his "Hand of God" goal, as well as another voted the "Goal of the Century", in the same quarter-final match against England. These were two of the five goals that Maradona scored during the tournament, and he also created another five for his teammates. Argentina beat West Germany 3–2 in the final at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca. Argentina would not win the World Cup again until 2022, 36 years later. Total attendance was 2,394,031, an average per match of 46,039. Canada, Denmark and Iraq made their first appearances at the final stage.
The format of the competition changed from 1982. The final pair of matches in each group started at the same time and the second round was played on a knockout basis rather than groups. The 24 teams qualified were divided into six groups of four (A to F). The top two teams and the four best third-place finishers from the six groups advanced to the knockout round of 16 teams. Italy were the defending champions, but were eliminated by France in the round of 16.
The tournament saw the appearance of the Mexican wave, a spectator phenomenon which was popularised worldwide after featuring during the tournament.
Host selection
Colombia was originally chosen as hosts by FIFA in June 1974, with Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Pereira and Bucaramanga intended as the host cities, plus potentially Barranquilla. Colombia agreed to host a 16-team competition. However, days before the 1978 FIFA World Cup's opening match, FIFA later allowed an expansion to 24 teams for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which was more challenging for Colombia to host, although FIFA President João Havelange initially gave assurances that they could revert to a 16-team tournament. Colombian president Julio César Turbay Ayala was initially against holding the tournament in his country, but reluctantly granted permission in October 1980. However, the next Colombian president, Belisario Betancur, declared on 5 November 1982 that they could not afford to host the World Cup under the terms that FIFA demanded.
Although Mexico, United States and Canada submitted bids on 11 March 1983 to be the replacement host, (Brazil was the only other eligible bidder but did not bid) the five-person special FIFA committee responsible for recommending the bids to the Executive Committee (Exco) announced on 31 March that it would only consider Mexico's bid, saying the United States and Canada had "deviated" from FIFA's criteria and Exco members refused to visit Canadian and American stadium sites. On 20 May, the committee announced Mexico as the replacement hosts despite Havelange stating that the United States and Canada had made better presentations. Mexico became the first nation to host two World Cups, as it had hosted the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
The Canadian representatives criticised the committee's decision not to consider Canada, saying they had submitted a more complete bid than Mexico, and that they had been misled by the number of stadiums required for bidding. The United States' bid contained more than the required number of stadiums with the required capacity to host World Cup matches (at least 40,000 capacity, 60,000 for second-round matches and 80,000 for the tournament final). Mexico submitted a bid with 14 stadiums, only six of which seated over 40,000 at the time of the bid, and three over 60,000. Havelange in turn criticised the United States' handling of stadium selection for the football tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Americans also pointed out that Mexico had the influence of two seats on the 22-person executive committee, a FIFA vice president and an executive at Televisa, a Mexican television network with ties to Havelange. Also working in Mexico's favour was Havelange secretly promising the broadcast rights to Televisa ahead of the vote. Following the bidding process, Henry Kissinger, the former United States Secretary of State who led the United States bid committee, remarked, "The politics of soccer make me nostalgic for the politics of the Middle East," while the leader of the Canadian committee called Mexico's 10-page bid document "a joke."
A severe earthquake in September 1985, eight months before the tournament, cast doubt over Mexico's ability to organise the event, but the stadiums were not affected and it was decided to go ahead with the preparations. As 1986 had been declared the International Year of Peace by the United Nations, the advertising boards of all the stadia displayed the FIFA and United Nations logos along with the legend "Football for Peace – Peace Year".
For the design of the logo an unofficial motto was adopted: "El Mundo Unido por Un Balón" ("The World United by a Ball").
The final draw took place on 15 December 1985 hosted at Televisa San Ángel studios in Mexico City.
Qualification
Three teams qualified for the World Cup for the first time: Canada, Denmark, and IraqEl Gráfico # 3477. 27 May 1986. Iraq played all their 'home' matches on neutral ground in Saudi Arabia because of the Iran–Iraq War. Canada would not appear again until 2022Canada qualify for the men’s FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1986 on canadasoccer.com. 27 Mar 2022, and Iraq would not qualify again until the next time the tournament was held in Mexico in 2026. South Korea qualified for the first time since 1954, Paraguay for the first time since 1958, Portugal for the first time since 1966, Morocco for the first time since 1970 and Bulgaria and Uruguay for the first time since 1974. It remains as of 2026 the last appearance of Hungary and Northern Ireland.
All six previous World Cup-winning nations (Argentina, Brazil, England, West Germany, Italy, and Uruguay) qualified, which held the record of most previous champions at a tournament before the record was broken in 2002 with the addition of France (who won the 1998 tournament) and a second time in 2014 with the addition of Spain (who won the 2010 tournament).
List of qualified teams
The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament.
AFC (2) (debut)
CAF (2)
OFC (0) None qualified
CONCACAF (2) (debut) (hosts) CONMEBOL (4)
UEFA (14)
(debut)
(holders)
Venues Eleven cities hosted the tournament, with a total of twelve stadiums used (two of them in Mexico City), among which were counted all five stadia that hosted the 1970 tournament. The Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the largest stadium used for the tournament, hosted nine matches (including the final), more than any other stadium used. Mexico City hosted 13 total matches; the Olimpico Universitario Stadium hosted four matches (if the Mexico City suburban town Nezahualcoyotl's three matches are included, this brings the total up to 16 matches; nearly a third of all matches in this tournament). Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city hosted nine total matches (the Jalisco Stadium hosted six matches, the Tres de Marzo Stadium in Zapopan hosted three), Monterrey hosted eight matches (The Tecnologico Stadium hosted three matches and the Universitario Stadium in San Nicolas de los Garza hosted five matches), and the Cuauhtémoc Stadium in Puebla hosted five matches.
The hot, humid and rainy summer weather in Mexico varied from humid desert locations like Monterrey to tropical locations such as Guadalajara; but perhaps the greatest hardship the players had to contend with was the high altitude of the Mexican locations. With the exception of the temperatures of Monterrey (still 2,000 feet above sea level), all of the stadia were located in cities that varied anywhere from Guadalajara being above sea level to Toluca being above sea level, making conditions very difficult for the players running around in these stadia – but the higher the cities, the less intense the heat. Mexico City, the location of the opening and final matches and the location where the most matches were played was above sea level and the weather there was not as hot as in other cities used in this World Cup.
Mexico City Guadalajara, Jalisco Puebla City, Puebla Estadio Azteca Estadio Olímpico Universitario Estadio Jalisco Estadio Cuauhtémoc Capacity: 114,600 Capacity: 72,212 Capacity: 66,193 Capacity: 46,416 San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León Querétaro, Querétaro Estadio Universitario Estadio La Corregidora Capacity: 43,780 Capacity: 38,576 Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico Monterrey, Nuevo León Estadio Neza 86 Stadiums in Mexico City (labeled as MXC () above) Estadio Tecnológico Capacity: 34,536 Capacity: 33,805 Toluca, State of Mexico Irapuato, Guanajuato León, Guanajuato Zapopan, Jalisco Estadio Toluca 70–86 Estadio Sergio León Chávez Estadio Nou Camp Estadio Tres de Marzo Capacity: 32,612 Capacity: 31,336 Capacity: 30,531 Capacity: 30,015
All of these venues except Monterrey were located in central Mexico, as this tournament was organized with the then-standard way of keeping teams playing in locations in close proximity to each other. Group A only played at the Olimpico and in Puebla (except for the Bulgaria-Italy opening tournament match, which was played in the Azteca), Group B only played at the Azteca and in Toluca (hosts Mexico were part of this group; they played all their group stage matches at the Azteca), Group C played in León and Irapuato, Group D only played in Guadalajara (including the Guadalajara area town of Zapopan; the last match of this group was played in Monterrey), Group E exclusively played in Querétaro and Nezahualcóyotl, and Group F played in the northern city of Monterrey (including the Monterrey area town of San Nicolas de los Garza; the last match of this group was played in Guadalajara). All of the venues listed hosted knockout round matches except the ones in Nezahualcoyotl, Irapuato, Zapopan, Toluca and the Estadio Tecnologico in Monterrey.
StadiumMatchesTeams hosted in the first roundEstadio AztecaOpening match, Group B, R2, QF, SF, FinalEstadio Olímpico UniversitarioGroup A, R2, , Estadio JaliscoGroup D, R2, QF, SFEstadio CuauhtémocGroup A, R2, QF,Match for third placeEstadio UniversitarioGroup F, R2, QFEstadio La CorregidoraGroup E, R2Estadio TecnológicoGroup F, *, *Estadio Nou CampGroup C, R2Estadio Neza 86Group E, , Estadio Sergio León ChávezGroup C, , Estadio Tres de MarzoGroup D*, , *Estadio Toluca 70–86Group B, , Morocco and Portugal played in Guadalajara while Spain and Algeria played in Monterrey.
Match officials Africa
Ali Ben Nasser Edwin Picon-Ackong Idrissa Traoré
Asia
Fallaj Al-Shanar Jamal Al Sharif Shizuo Takada
Europe
Luigi Agnolin Horst Brummeier Valeri Butenko Vojtech Christov George Courtney André Daina Bogdan Dotchev Erik Fredriksson Ioan Igna Jan Keizer Siegfried Kirschen Lajos Németh Zoran Petrović Alexis Ponnet Joël Quiniou Volker Roth Victoriano Sánchez Arminio Carlos Silva Valente Alan Snoddy
North and Central America
Rómulo Méndez Antonio Márquez Ramírez David Socha Berny Ulloa Morera
Oceania Chris Bambridge
South America
Romualdo Arppi Filho Jesús Díaz Carlos Espósito Gabriel González Roa José Luis Martínez Bazán Hernán Silva
Squads For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1986 FIFA World Cup squads.
Seeding