The final was held at River Plate's home stadium, Estadio Monumental, in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

The logo is based on President Juan Perón's signature gesture: a salute to the crowd with both arms extended above his head.

At this point, the design was already broadly commercialized and the merchandise had already been made: a forced modification "would trigger a sea of lawsuits against the country", so the military had no option but to give up their attempts and leave it.

[6] England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (the European champions) and the Soviet Union failed to qualify for the second World Cup in succession, losing out to Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland and Hungary respectively.

Along with England's failure, Wales and Northern Ireland also failed to qualify leaving Scotland the only nation of the United Kingdom to remain in the final sixteen.

[4] Less than a year before the World Cup, in September 1977, Interior Minister General Albano Harguindeguy, stated that 5,618 people had recently disappeared.

Allegations that Cruyff refused to participate because of political convictions were denied by him 30 years later—he and his family had been the victims of a kidnapping attempt a few months before the tournament.

[12] One player, Ralf Edström, was arrested for speaking to someone in Buenos Aires; however, the Argentine military released him upon recognizing that he was a Swedish footballer, not an ordinary person.

More controversy surrounded the host, Argentina, as all of their games in the first round kicked off at night, giving the Argentines the advantage of knowing where they stood in the group.

This issue would arise again in Spain 1982, which prompted FIFA to change the rules so that the final two group games in subsequent World Cups (as well as in every other international tournament, starting with the UEFA Euro 1984) would be played simultaneously.

However, it is simply because of the dominant notion that football or soccer, or any sport for that matter, belong to civil society, giving the assumption that state policies wouldn't interfere with the passion and enthusiasm of fans.

Desperate to prove their stability and prominence to the world after their coup two years earlier, the government used whatever means necessary to ensure that the team would progress far in the tournament.

After their awareness that urging people away from the World Cup could produce counter-sympathy for the junta, they launched a campaign that would teach journalists to write about the tournament but based on the regime, along with the slogan "Football yes, torture no."

[17] Some accusations originated in the Brazilian media and pointed to the fact that the Peruvian goalkeeper, Ramón Quiroga, had been born in Argentina.

[20] Another alleged deal, published by a Colombian drug lord in a controversial book, involved the Peruvian team being bribed without any political implications.

There was also some domestic controversy as well, as Argentine manager César Luis Menotti did not call up the then-17-year-old Argentinos Juniors local star Diego Maradona, for Menotti felt Maradona was too young to handle the pressures of such an important tournament on home soil and that the expectations of the team's performance would probably revolve around the Buenos Aires-born youngster.

[22] In addition, Maradona's usual position of number 10 (play-making attacking midfielder) was taken by Mario Kempes, who ended up as the Best Player and Top Goal Scorer.

Poland won Group 2 ahead of world champions West Germany, after holding the Germans to a goalless draw and then beating Tunisia and Mexico.

Scotland drew with Iran 1–1 and the only highlight of their campaign was a 3–2 victory over the Netherlands in their final group game which was not enough to prevent elimination.

Scotland's Willie Johnston was expelled from the World Cup after he was found to have taken a banned stimulant during the opening game against Peru.

Heading into their final group game, Brazil needed to beat Austria to be certain of advancing to the second round and managed a 1–0 win thanks to a goal from Roberto Dinamite.

The Italians beat Austria 1–0, and so the Netherlands faced Italy in their last group game knowing that the winners would reach the final.

Arie Haan got the winner for the Dutch with 15 minutes remaining, and the Netherlands had reached their second successive World Cup Final.

In the game known as the miracle of Cordoba, West Germany were surprisingly beaten by Austria 2–3 which marked their end as World Champions.

As previously noted, rumors suggested that Peru might have been bribed or threatened into allowing Argentina to win the match by such a large margin.

Brazil took third place from an enterprising Italian side with Nelinho scoring a memorable goal, and were dubbed "moral champions" by coach Cláudio Coutinho, because they did not win the tournament, but did not lose a single match.

The host team came out late and questioned the legality of a plaster cast on René van de Kerkhof's wrist, which the Dutch said allowed tension to build in front of a hostile Buenos Aires crowd.

Argentina won the final 3–1 after extra time, after Daniel Bertoni scored and Kempes, who finished as the tournament's top scorer with six goals, added his second of the day.

The Tucuman venue was temporarily suspended in 1974 and was decommissioned the following year, given the intensity of the actions of the guerrillas and the Armed Forces in the province.

In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.