World Cups - Chile 1962

Revisiting The History of Goal Nets series on World Cups - starting with Chile 1962

The Chilean FA told FIFA they had to give Chile the World Cup "because we have nothing else." So Chile won the rights to host the 1962 tournament and they got plenty in return: Garrincha in his prime, the Italy v Chile Battle of Santiago and these stanchions of almost perfect quarter circumference on which to hang the tournament's nets.




Though football on TV was in its infancy and the matches at the '62 finals were not broadcast live, the influence of the tournament could be seen in the stanchions installed at stadia as diverse as Estadio Bernabeu, Madrid -



and Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh

Brazil 1989 - Copa America Special

Brazil hosted and won the 1989 Copa America.

2015 champions Chile lost to beaten 2015 finalists Argentina in their 5 team group, so didn't qualify for the semi finals.

Matches were played in four stadia. Goal nets were suspended via three differing methods.

Estadio Fonte Nova



Estadio Do Arruda



Estadio Serra Dourada



Estadio do Maracana

Arena Pantanal - World Cup 2014 Venue

Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba - a city in the exact centre of South America - is a new stadium which will host four matches during FIFA World Cup 2014. The stadium is complete and opened recently, with the obligatory boxnets at either end.




Arena Pantanal replaces Estadio Governador Jose Fragelli, nicknamed Verdao (and home to three clubs, including Mixto Esporte Clube).

In an effort to maintain links with the past, FIFA have nicknamed the new stadium Verdao, while championing its green (Verdao) credentials.

A better link to Cuiaba and Brazil's footballing past would have been for FIFA to maintain the traditional L-supports that once graced either end of the old stadium.

101 Great Goals - Paul Breitner

Welcome to the launch of a new series of posts - 101 Great Goals - and I'd like to invite all readers of the blog to nominate their Great Goals on the Facebook page or, better still, post a link and your reasons for liking the goal so much.

What constitutes a Great Goal? As this is The History of Goal Nets, simply any goal can be considered Great if we enjoyed the aesthetics of ball striking net so much that we are moved to nominate that goal.

Your Great Goals can be nominated or posted in any order; Paul Breitner's isn't necessarily the greatest goal.  The point of 101 Great Goals is not to rank the goals, but enjoy them (as they hit the net).

So to my first choice - Paul Breitner v Chile at the 1974 World Cup.



He's scoring into the hated box nets, I hear you cry. That's certainly true, but in the mid 1970's - when everyone at home had stanchions or D's - the free-hanging nets at the 1974 finals were paradoxically the epitome of sophistication. And some - like those in the West Berlin Olimpiastadion above - actually had pretty good ball retention.

I always loved Paul Breitner's goal for the way the ball seemed to stop and hang in the air after it hit the very top corner of the net, before gently bouncing to the ground.

UEFA Europa League - Club Brugge KV

FCB have a glorious history of goal nets and, like NK Maribor, went to extreme lengths to keep their stanchions when box nets were deemed a necessary requirement.

In the mid-60's Brugge sported stanchions of a curve that suggested the Latin influence of Madrid and Santiago and would lead to similar at Feyenoord.



By the late 70's FCB were a force in European football and played between skinny A-frames that were classically Low Country.




The A-frames were still there in the mid-90's and the era of box net homogeneity. Exactly like those at  NK Maribor, Brugge maintained their identity by draping the box nets over the stanchions.

Heart of Midlothian FC

Too curvy by far to be included in any A-list A-frames series, the old stanchions at Tynecastle defy a Scottish or British categorisation even in an era of great diversity in goal design.


Might the possible source of inspiration for the Gorgie stanchions be those at the Bernabeu?

And might those at the Bernabeu have been inspired by the goals at the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

World Cups - West Germany 1974

Before the violence and negativity of the 1986 and 1990 tournaments plunged the game to new depths of despair, the 1974 World Cup with its miserly 2.55 goals per game was considered the nadir of football history. At a distance of 35 years it can now be seen as the apotheosis of European football. Holland destroyed Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. West Germany became champions and the pace and tempo demonstrated by each became the new standard in world football

Matches were played at 9 different stadia but for the first time the on-field architecture was standardised.

So be they in Berlin

or Hamburg


the new box goalnets were the same - and would themselves go on to become the first class standard in world football.

World Cup - Chile 1962

The Chilean FA told FIFA they had to give Chile the World Cup "because we have nothing else." So Chile won the rights to host the 1962 tournament and they got plenty in return: Garrincha in his prime, the Italy v Chile Battle of Santiago and these stanchions of almost perfect quarter circumference on which to hang the tournament's nets.




Though football on TV was in its infancy and the matches at the '62 finals were not broadcast live, the influence of the tournament could be seen in the stanchions installed at stadia as diverse as Estadio Bernabeu, Madrid -


and Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh