Spain, 1982

The 12th World Cup was in Spain for the first time from June 30 to July 11. The last champion Argentina was eliminated in the second round. This World Cup was very different and there were 24 teams that played 52 games in 17 stadiums in 14 different cities as hosts. The format of this world cup was very different from the last ones having a first and second round and then a knockout stage with semifinals, third place match and the final.
Poland, Italy, West Germany and France qualified to the finals where Italy beat Poland and Germany beat France. Poland beat France in the match for the third place and Italy beat 3-1 to West Germany. The best player and top scorer was the Italian Paolo Rossi, the mascot was Naranjito and the official match ball was the Tango España made by Adidas.