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Culture13 June – 7 July 1974

1974 FIFA World Cup West Germany

The first tournament for the new FIFA World Cup Trophy. Beckenbauer’s West Germany beat Johan Cruyff’s Netherlands 2–1.

The final between West Germany and the Netherlands, Munich Olympic Stadium, 7 July 1974
The final between West Germany and the Netherlands, Munich Olympic Stadium, 7 July 1974

Rainer Mittelstädt · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Source

The tournament was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July 1974, with the newly made FIFA World Cup Trophy replacing the Jules Rimet Cup. East Germany, in its only finals, beat West Germany 1–0 in Hamburg — the one World Cup meeting of the two German states. Johan Cruyff’s Netherlands reached the final playing “Total Football”, but in Munich’s Olympic Stadium on 7 July they lost 1–2 to West Germany, captained by Franz Beckenbauer.

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The map in 1974

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States at the time
West Germany · host
East Germany

People

  • Franz Beckenbauer1945 – 2024

    key figure · West German footballer and coach who won the World Cup as captain in 1974 and as coach in 1990, and chaired the organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup; nicknamed “Der Kaiser”

Before and after

Earlier
1972 1972 Munich Olympics
Later
1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall

Themes that include this event

  • FIFA World Cup1904 – 2026

    From the founding of FIFA to the 48-team tournament in North America — the football championship that has gathered the world every four years since Uruguay 1930