There had been a coup d'état in Chile two months before, whereupon people deemed undesirable to the new regime of Augusto Pinochet had been held captive and executed in the stadium.
Salvador Allende had been elected to power in Chile in 1970, but was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet in a coup d'état in September 1973, during which thousands of people deemed undesirable by the new regime were taken to the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, tortured and killed; this continued until 7 November.
After the coup, the new regime had banned all Chileans from leaving the country: in addition due to its anti-communism it did not have a favourable view of the national team playing in the homeland of its staunch enemy.
However, at the same time it was desirable to portray an image of normality, so the Pinochet regime let the national team travel on the condition that no one made political statements, since their relatives were under military surveillance.
[2] In addition, Elías Figueroa and Carlos Caszely were detained by the immigration authorities for alleged irregularities in their passports.
[1] It was a very tense game that was almost cancelled due to rumours of arrests of Chilean players in exchange for the release of political prisoners.
[7] In the face of criticism of the regime regarding abuses against detainees, the Football Federation of Chile suggested other scenarios, but the military junta, in an effort to improve the climate of opinion, insisted on demonstrating normality and at the same time defeating communism playing on home ground.
The USSR's decision was supported by several of its allied countries, especially by East Germany which was already qualified and threatened not to appear at the World Cup event.
[1][8] Chile demanded a compensation of $300,000 if the Soviets did not appear, claiming that they could not place the tickets for sale and the cost of preparing the game.
A period of decline started for the Soviets as they also missed out on the 1978 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships of 1976 and 1980.