1986 FIFA World Cup Final

The 1986 FIFA World Cup Final was the final and deciding game of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, held in Mexico. The match was held at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on 29 June 1986 and had an attendance of 114,600. It was contested by Argentina and West Germany. Argentina won the match 3–2 in normal time.

Summary
This was an exciting and memorable World Cup final. José Luis Brown opened the scoring for Argentina in the 23rd minute and it stayed at 1–0 until half-time. 10 minutes into the second half, Jorge Valdano doubled Argentina's lead. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge pulled a goal back in the 74th minute for West Germany, his first goal in the tournament. West Germany then equalised in the 80th minute, with Rudi Völler scoring to seemingly salvage the game. Although Diego Maradona was heavily marked the entire game, his superb pass to Jorge Burruchaga in the 84th minute allowed Argentina to regain the lead at 3–2.

Six yellow cards were issued in this match, which was a record number until the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, 3 of them were issued because of time wasting of Argentine players. As the clock expired, Argentina celebrated their second World Cup victory in three tournaments (after winning the 1978 World Cup).

Details
Match rules:
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 * 90 minutes
 * 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary
 * Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
 * Five substitutes named, of which two may be used
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Aftermath
The second World Cup won by Argentina is regarded by many as the most important victory for an Argentine side. Four years after Argentina's victory over West Germany, both teams met again on the final of the subsequent World Cup, with West Germany winning the match 1–0 via a penalty kick. This marked the first time two World Cup finalists met twice, a record shared with Brazil and Italy, the latter two having met in the 1970 and 1994 World Cup finals.

With the 1986 defeat, German manager Franz Beckenbauer gained the rather unwanted distinction of having lost a World Cup final as both a player and a manager. (Beckenbauer had played in West Germany's defeat in 1966.) However, four years later he led Germany to the Gold medals and then became winner of the World Cup both as player and as manager (he also won as player in 1974).

The two teams met again in the 2014 final for a record breaking third time in which Germany won the honors as 4th time champion.