Fifa World Cup 1982 - Host Nation Spain

This was the first year that the World Cup finalists were increased from 16 to 24 as all of the football World were keen to play in this great spectacle The 1982 World Cup started with six groups of four teams and a second stage with four groups with three teams this time and the winners of those groups went forward to the semi-finals.

The 1982 World Cup saw the introduction of a penalty shoot-out, Penalty shoot-outs are hard on the nerves of players, managers and fans, and particularly cruel for the player who misses and costs his team the match. But for sheer drama, they're hard to beat.

Brazil always World Cup favourites came to Spain with their best team since 1970 and some believed it was one of the best ever. The beautiful flowing samba style won hearts all over the world as the goals piled up against Soviet Union, Scotland, New Zealand and Argentina. Zico, Eder, Socrates and Falcao simply looked unstoppable until they ran into a skinny little striker called Paolo Rossi. Italy beat Brazil 3-2 with a semi final spot at stake in one of the best matches ever seen. Rossi had three efforts on target all game and scored three goals.

After this great victory Italy were now on a roll and Rossi was turning it on where he got two more against Poland in the semi final and opened the score line in the final itself against West Germany with his sixth goal. Enzo Bearzot's Italy triumphed 3-1 in Madrid and Dino Zoff became the oldest ever winner at 40 years of age. Cabrini, Tardelli, Antognoni and Scirea also had key roles in this team who mastered the art of counter-attacking better than most champions and it became obvious in the big games.

England was back after 12 years in the cold and went home undefeated after five games including two goalless draws in Phase 2. Lack of inventiveness up front hurt England's chances especially since Keegan struggled with injury throughout the tournament and barely played.