UEFA Champions League Final Special - Lisbon

Tonight's 2014 Champions League Final between the two Madrid sides, Real and Atletico, will be played at Benfica's Estadio da Luz.

As previously posted on this blog, Benfica have a wonderful history of goal nets.



This year's final is the first time the European Cup final has been played in Lisbon since 1967, when Celtic defeated Inter at Estadio Nacional.



The distinctive L-supports of Jamor 1967 were replaced a couple of years later by stanchions.



In a wonderful nod to tradition, the stanchions remained in place until 2012.

Spain 1982 - FIFA World Cup revisited

The forthcoming World Cup tournament in Brazil is not the first time FIFA has ripped out the existing on-field architecture and replaced it with anonymous and homogenous boxnets.

The 1982 finals in Spain are a prime example of FIFA insisting on non-native hardware for a World Cup tournament. As I posted some time ago - and re-posted in full below - the hybrid format of the 24 team tournament was matched by hybrid goal nets that added no flavour of Spain to the Spanish World Cup (exactly the result the global brand managers at FIFA had in mind).

Barcelona played out season 1981/82 between their classic Chelsea-style A-frames at the Nou Camp.



But by the time the opening game between Argentina and Belgium kicked off, the stanchions - the style of which had followed Barcelona from their previous stadium, Camp de Les Corts - were gone.




Similarly, the instantly recognisable curved stanchions of Real Madrid greeted teams to the Bernabeufor season 1981/82.




Yet Marco Tardelli's unforgettable goal in the World Cup final was scored into completely forgettable goal nets.

World Cups - Spain 1982

A hybrid 24-team format, neither the 16 team tournament of old nor the monstrous 32-team affair promised by FIFA.

With hybrid goalnets -



Neither the L-supports of '78 nor the monstrous box goalnets monopoly promised since 1974.

Cue Sil doing Pacino doing Michael from Godfather 3