1994 World Cup - United States

Host country	United States
Dates	17 June – 17 July (31 days)
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	9 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (4th title)
Runners-up	Italy
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	Bulgaria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	141 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	3,587,538 (68,991 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hristo Stoichkov  Oleg Salenko (6 goals each)
Best player	Romário
Best goalkeeper	Michel Preud'homme

The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on 4 July 1988. Brazil became the first nation to win four World Cup titles when they beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra time, the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The official match ball was the Adidas Questra.

Official Logo

The 1994 World Cup broke the average attendance record with nearly 69,000, a feat that still stands today. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams (and from 52 to 64 matches) in the 1998 World Cup. Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made their first appearances in the finals; with Norway making its first appearance since 1938, and Bolivia since 1950. Bulgaria, Morocco and Mexico returned after missing the last tournament.

Three nations bid for host duties, United States, Brazil and Morocco.^[3] The vote was held in Zurich on 4 July 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members. FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious football tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport – one condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional football league; Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. The U.S. staged a hugely successful tournament, with average attendance of nearly 69,000 breaking a record that surpassed the 1966 FIFA World Cup average attendance of 51,000 thanks to the large seating capacities the stadiums in the United States provided for the spectators in comparison to the smaller venues of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the final draw that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 19 December 1993.

The format of the competition stayed the same as in the 1990 World Cup: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout phase: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. This World Cup was the first in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two. FIFA instituted this feature to encourage attacking football after the defensive display of many teams at Italia '90.

The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having played in the 1982, the 1986—where he led Argentinato the World Cup title—and the 1990 World Cups, where he led them to the final. Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test which uncovered ephedrine, a weight loss drug, in his blood. Colombia, despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign, disappointed in the tournament, failed to advance from the round robin. The team was supposedly dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection. Defender Andrés Escobar was a tragic figure of this tournament, as in the group stage match against the United States, he scored an own goal that eliminated his team. Escobar was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellín suburb only 10 days later, apparently in retaliation for the own goal.

Hosts United States advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. They played Brazil and, despite a 1–0 defeat, the United States' performance was considered a great success in their footballing history.On the field, the biggest surprise of the tournament was Bulgaria. The Bulgarians had never won a match in five previous World Cup finals but, led by Hristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group matches to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico. Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarterfinals, where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semifinals and third-place match, respectively.

Brazil's win over the hosts helped take them to the final against Italy. While Brazil's path was relatively smooth as they defeated the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and Sweden in the semis, the Italians had made hard work of reaching the final. During the group stage Italy struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland. Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio, who was expected to be one of the stars of the tournament, had not yet scored a goal. During the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1–0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the equalizer forcing the game into extra time. He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semifinal victory over Bulgaria.

The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup. These teams had also previously met in the qualifying group. Sweden won convincingly with a 4–0 victory. Swedish forward Tomas Brolin was named to the All-star team.

The final match at the Rose Bowl was tense, but devoid of scoring chances. It was the second time in 24 years that both nations met in a final. Despite the strategies implemented by FIFA to promote offensive play, both teams failed to produce a goal. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3–2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive. He missed by shooting it over the crossbar, and Brazil were crowned champions for the fourth time. After the match ended the then-Vice-President Al Gore hosted the awarding ceremony by handing Brazilian captain Dunga the prestigious trophy; the Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Brazilian Formula One champion Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior.

The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, the latter becoming the first player to score five goals in a match, coming in a 6–1 victory against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazilian striker Romário, with five goals, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

Winner: Brazil