Fifa World Cup 1974 - Host Nation West Germany

The 1974 tournament in West Germany saw the presentation of the new trophy as Brazil kept the original one as they had one it three times. The 1974 World Cup also saw a new format with the second phase now groups which was replacing the knock-out rounds after the preliminary round, with the winners of the second phase groups playing in the World Cup Final.

The one thing that most people will remember about the 1974 finals is that it was plagued by torrential rain and many of the games were player in very bad conditions, particularly the game between West Germany and Poland with a place in the Final at stake. The pitch in Frankfurt was water-logged and the city's fire department was called in to soak it up.

The hosts came into the 1974 World Cup with a really excellent chance as their team had won the European Championships in 1972. With the hosts having the talent of Maier, Beckenbauer, Overath and Müller they were always going to be hard to beat.

The star of the tournament was Johan Cruijff from the Netherlands who was outstanding on the ball. That is the real success of the World Cup in that it allows the World to see some of the very best players playing at the height of their games.

Unusually for Brazil they were disappointing, probably in a rebuilding phase after losing their star player Pele who played his last World Cup in Mexico. Brazil failed to score a goal in four of their seven appearances and of their six goals scored in total; three came against Zaïre, the undisputed minnows of the World Cup.

Italy also failed to sparkle having being knocked out Poland one of the surprise packages of the 1974 World Cup. Scotland got knocked out in the qualifying stage having not lost a game. Australia, Haiti and Zaïre all made their World Cup debutants in 1974.

The introduction of the second phase group stage was a success. FIFA would keep that format also in 1978.