On July 7, 1974, the West Germany and Netherlands soccer teams faced off at Olympiastadion in Munich for the 1974 World Cup Final game. The game was marred by a number of penalties and even created a minor controversy with the head of FIFA years later.
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1974 World Cup Final – How They Got There ?
West Germany won two games in the original stages of the tournament but ended up losing a 1-0 match to East Germany. The Netherlands also won two games in the start of the tournament.
The two sides then went into two new groups after the first part of the tournament.
This was a change in prior World Cups as it did not have knockout stages. Both sides won their three matches during this part of the event but the Netherlands had a +8 goal differential compared to the +5 that West Germany had.
1974 World Cup Final – Gameplay
Johan Neeskens scored the first goal of the game for the Netherlands at 2′. This was his fifth goal of the tournament, putting him in second for the most goals scored during that year’s World Cup. Neeskens scored this goal during a penalty kick after Uli Hoeneß committed a penalty in the nearby zone. This was the first time ever that a penalty was called during a World Cup final. West Germany’s Berti Vogts was also issued a yellow card two minutes later.
Paul Breitner scored a goal on a penalty kick at 25′. This came after Bernd Holzenbeing was fouled not too far from the net. Breitner elected to kick it this time and it went through.
Two yellow cards were issued to the Netherlands as Willem van Hanegem had one at 23′ while Neeskens got one at 40′.
Gerd Muller scored what would be his final goal in World Cup competition at 43′ to give West Germany a 2-1 lead. Johan Cruyff then argued with the referee as the first half came to an end. He received a yellow card at 45′, thus making it the Netherlands’ third yellow card and the fourth for the entire game.
Muller seemed to have a second goal in the second half but he was called for being offsides, thus voiding the possible goal. The West German team also argued that they were fouled again later in the half but this was deemed to be false. In the end, West Germany held on to take a 2-1 victory. West Germany became the first reigning European champions to win the World Cup right after this; the side won the first title in 1972.
Watch the 1974 World Cup Final highlights here:
After the Match
Joao Havelange, the FIFA president from 1974 to 1998, would later argue that the 1974 World Cup was fixed in order to give West Germany the win. He also said the same thing about the 1966 World Cup that England won. However, his claims were quickly discarded as there was no evidence suggesting a fix.
Also, West Germany became the first team to collect the current iteration of the World Cup trophy. The old model was retired from use in 1970.