The 1982 Football World Cup was held in Spain. It was won by Italy, who beat West Germany 3-1 in the final. With its third World Cup title (after 1934 and 1938), Italy drew level with record champions Brazil.

The format of the competition changed from 1978: for the first time, 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Top two teams in each group would advance to the second round, where they would be split into four groups of three. The winners of each group will advance to the semifinals. This was the only World Cup to be played under this format.

One of the most memorable games of the tournament was the semifinal between Germany and France. It had a horrible incident when German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher brutally fouled the attacking French player Patrick Battiston on his way to a certain goal, leaving him unconscious. The French were shocked when the referee did not even award them a free kick, much less give Schumacher the deserved red card. But the match had also great moments in sport: after the game ended 1-1 on regulation, the French scored two goals during extra time to lead 3-1. But the German team did not give up and scored two goals themselves to equalise the game. The extra time ended 3-3 and the Germans won the following penalty shoot-out 5-4.

After being upset by Algeria in their opening game, West Germany knew that a 1-0 win over Austria in the group's last game would send both those teams into the second round at the expense of the Africans as Algeria already played their three matches. That is exactly what hapenned, as the Germans scored early and both teams just kicked the ball around for the rest of the game. This led to the final group games being played simultenously, starting at the 1986 World Cup.

Italian Paolo Rossi won the Golden Boot, scoring six goals.

First round

Group A

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Poland 4 3 1 2 0 5 1 Italy 3 3 0 3 0 2 2 Cameroon 3 3 0 3 0 1 1 Peru 2 3 0 2 1 2 6

Italy 0 - 0 Poland Peru 0 - 0 Cameroon Italy 1 - 1 Peru Poland 0 - 0 Cameroon Poland 5 - 1 Peru Italy 1 - 1 Cameroon

Group B

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA West Germany 4 3 2 0 1 6 3 Austria 4 3 2 0 1 3 1 Algeria 4 3 2 0 1 5 5 Chile 0 3 0 0 3 3 8

West Germany 1 - 2 Algeria Chile 0 - 1 Austria West Germany 4 - 1 Chile Algeria 0 - 2 Austria Algeria 3 - 2 Chile West Germany 1 - 0 Austria

Group C

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Belgium 5 3 2 1 0 3 1 Argentina 4 3 2 0 1 6 2 Hungary 3 3 1 1 1 12 6 El Salvador 0 3 0 0 3 1 13

Argentina 0 - 1 Belgium Hungary 10 - 1 El Salvador Argentina 4 - 1 Hungary Belgium 1 - 0 El Salvador Belgium 1 - 1 Hungary Argentina 2 - 0 El Salvador

Group D

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA England 6 3 3 0 0 6 1 France 3 3 1 1 1 6 5 Czechoslovakia 2 3 0 2 1 2 4 Kuwait 1 3 0 1 2 2 6

England 3 - 1 France Czechoslovakia 1 - 1 Kuwait England 2 - 0 Czechoslovakia France 4 - 1 Kuwait France 1 - 1 Czechoslovakia England 1 - 0 Kuwait

Group E

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Northern Ireland 4 3 1 2 0 2 1 Spain 3 3 1 1 1 3 3 Yugoslavia 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 Honduras 2 3 0 2 1 2 3

Spain 1 - 1 Honduras Yugoslavia 0 - 0 Northern Ireland Spain 2 - 1 Yugoslavia Honduras 1 - 1 Northern Ireland Honduras 0 - 1 Yugoslavia Spain 0 - 1 Northern Ireland

Group F

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Brazil 6 3 3 0 0 10 2 USSR 3 3 1 1 1 6 4 Scotland 3 3 1 1 1 8 8 New Zealand 0 3 0 0 3 2 12

Brazil 2 - 1 USSR Scotland 5 - 2 New Zealand Brazil 4 - 1 Scotland USSR 3 - 0 New Zealand USSR 2 - 2 Scotland Brazil 4 - 0 New Zealand

Second round

Group 1

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Poland 3 2 1 1 0 3 0 USSR 3 2 1 1 0 1 0 Belgium 0 2 0 0 2 0 4

Poland 3 - 0 Belgium Belgium 0 - 1 USSR Poland 0 - 0 USSR

Group 2

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA West Germany 3 2 1 1 0 2 1 England 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 Spain 1 2 0 1 1 1 2

West Germany 0 - 0 England West Germany 2 - 1 Spain Spain 0 - 0 England

Group 3

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Italy 4 2 2 0 0 5 3 Brazil 2 2 1 0 1 5 4 Argentina 0 2 0 0 2 2 5

Italy 2 - 1 Argentina Argentina 1 - 3 Brazil Italy 3 - 2 Brazil

Group 4

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA France 4 2 2 0 0 5 1 Austria 1 2 0 1 1 2 3 Northern Ireland 1 2 0 1 1 3 6

Austria 0 - 1 France Austria 2 - 2 Northern Ireland France 4 - 1 Northern Ireland

Semifinals

July 8, 1982
Poland 0 - 2 Italy	West Germany 3 - 3 (5 - 4 PKs) France

Third place match

July 10, 1982

Poland 3 - 2 France

Final

July 11, 1982 - Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid)

Italy 3 - 1 West Germany