Hundreds of balloons, with names of political prisoners were released in the vicinity of the match venue, guarded by a police force of 1,300.

Through Chilean sports commentators on site, news about the protests reached Chile.

The then governing Swedish Social Democratic Party didn't take part in the protests on September 20.

A protest march was instead organized in Båstad by the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League on September 18, ending at the town square, where former prime minister Tage Erlander and Sweden's former ambassador to Chile Harald Edelstam (who personally helped rescue over 1,200 political prisoners in Chile after the 1973 coup) addressed a crowd of some 3,000.

Olof Palme's government tried to stop the match, but on September 12 negotiations ended with a decision to play.