1994

Notes

USA's first time hosting; highest WC attendance of all time (3.59M, avg 68k/match — record still stands). Brazil's fourth title — first WC final to go to penalties (Brazil 3-2 Italy after 0-0; Roberto Baggio missed). Stoichkov and Russia's Salenko tied for Golden Boot at 6 goals each (Salenko scored 5 in one match vs Cameroon — single-match record). Maradona kicked out of tournament after failed drug test. Colombian Andrés Escobar shot dead after returning home, days after his own goal vs USA. First WC where 3 points awarded for a win (instead of 2). First WC with Best Goalkeeper award (Lev Yashin Trophy, won by Belgium's Preud'homme).

📚 Trivia

• finalsBrazil 0-0 Italy (3-2 pens) on 17 July 1994 in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena was the first World Cup final ever decided on penalties. Roberto Baggio missed the decisive kick — sending it over the bar. Brazil won their fourth title.
• recordsRussia's Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals in a single match — Russia 6-1 Cameroon, 28 June 1994 — the only player ever to do so at a World Cup. Russia were eliminated in the group stage; Salenko shared the Golden Boot with Hristo Stoichkov on 6 goals.
• recordsUSA 1994 set the all-time WC attendance record: 3,587,538 fans (averaging 68,991/match) — a record that still stands more than 30 years later, even with WC expansions.
• firsts1994 was the first WC to award the Lev Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper. Belgium's Michel Preud'homme was the inaugural winner. The trophy is named after the legendary Soviet keeper.
• contextColombian defender Andrés Escobar was murdered in Medellín on 2 July 1994, ten days after his own goal in Colombia's 2-1 loss to USA. The killing was widely linked to Colombian drug-trafficking betting interests; the gunman served 11 years.