Winners Brazil
Teams 16
Host Mexico
Teams in qualifiers 75
Number of matches 32
Notable absentees Argentina, France, Portugal, Spain
Surprises Morocco, the first African qualifiers since World War II
Golden Boot Gerd Muller (Germany) - 10
Stats A total of 95 goals were scored (2.97 per match), including five penalties and one own goal; Brazil (19) scored the most; 54 individual players scored, while Pelé and Uwe Seeler scored in their fourth World Cup tournament
Format Four groups of four in the qualifying stage, with the top two from each group into the quarter-finals
Innovations
• This was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe
• It was the first to be televised in colour
• Substitutes were allowed for the first time (two per team)
• Red and yellow cards were introduced, although no player was sent off during the tournament
• Fair Play Award introduced
• Teams level on points at the end of the group stage were separated by goal difference (replacing play-offs and goal average).
Controversies
• Before the event, England's captain, Bobby Moore, was arrested and held in Colombia on charges of theft. He was released on the eve of the competition after England had travelled on without him
• To fit in with European viewing schedules, some matches kicked off at noon. This was unpopular with many players and managers because of the intense heat in Mexico at that time of day
• On the eve of the England-Brazil match, Brazilian fans gathered outside the England hotel and chanted and sang all night in a deliberate bid to disrupt the team's sleep.
Trivia
• Zambia and Sudan both won 4-2 at home in their qualifying play-off matches. Sudan went through because of a quickly-scrapped rule that the team scoring more goals in the second match would win. However, they finished bottom of their final qualification group and did not reach the finals
• Rioting marred qualifying matches between El Salvador and neighbours Honduras, and in July 1969 war broke out between the two in what historians dubbed "The War of Soccer"
• Brazilian Mário Zagallo became the first man to win the tournament as a player (1958) and coach.
• Pelé became the first man to play in three World Cup-winning teams
• During the post-final celebrations, the lid of the trophy went missing. Brazilian reserve Davio retrieved it from a young spectator at the stadium exit.
Source: FIFA, ESPN, AllSports & Getty