World Cup Collection

There were fine players like Paul Van Himst, Leon Semeling, Jef Jurion, Wilfried Van Moer, and Raoul Lambert, but there was little to cheer for the Belgian national team during the 1960s. A failure to qualify for any significant international tournament meant Belgium's only...

France's focus this year was the qualifying campaign for the 1972 European Nations Cup which had started strongly with home and away wins over Norway and a draw in Budapest against Hungary. Things went off the rails in the autumn, however, thanks to a...

Qualification for the 1986 World Cup was secured by Portugal in their final group match thanks to a Carlos Manuel winner to defeat West Germany. This famous victory in Stuttgart ensured that the José Torres-led team edged out Sweden and would travel to Mexico...

American soccer was enjoying a very high profile in 1976 thanks to the success of the North American Soccer League, but that success had not extended as far as the US national team. Former 1960s international Walt Chyzowych had the role of Director of...

With Scottish coach David Gould in charge of what would be his only two games as the United States team manager, the national team traveled to Italy in 1934 to participate in their second World Cup competition. The star of the brief American campaign...

The hosting by Los Angeles of the 1984 Summer Olympics was a great opportunity for the United States team to enjoy home advantage and capture the imagination of a curious domestic audience in the soccer event. Unfortunately, the adventure ended prematurely in the group...

The football revolution that Danish football underwent in the 1970s paved the way for the nation's emergence onto the world scene in the following decade. Despite the many good players produced in Denmark, football there had long and resolutely stuck to its amateur principles...

The East German national team set out on their qualifying campaign for the 1986 World Cup hoping to reach what would have been just their second-ever major tournament. Although ultimately unsuccessful, East Germany did come very close indeed, and their total of ten points...

With veterans like Heinz Hermann and Alain Sutter still an integral part of the Swiss scene as the decade ticked over into the 1990s, a new generation of younger attacking talent was emerging to complement them through players like Stephane Chapuisat, Kubilay Turkilmaz, and...

All our ‘Designed by…’ T-shirts have football as inspiration and the collection consists of over 125 different styles. We create our T-shirts in collaboration with some of the greatest graphic artists and famous football photographers from all over the world. The superior quality ‘Made...

With plans rapidly advancing to establish Japan's first professional football league, the late 1980s saw the country's national team also start to take its first positive steps in the international arena. During 1987 under coach Yoshinobu Ishii, the national team would successfully secure qualification...

A difficult time in the modern history of the Dutch game with the national team following up failure to qualify for the 1982 World Cup with similar disappointment in the Euro ‘84 qualifiers - albeit under the most unlikely of circumstances. Leading their group...

Holland was producing fine players from its earliest days and under English coach Bob Glendenning the national team would first thrust itself onto a grander stage when qualifying for the World Cup in 1934. Experienced players like Puck van Heel, Wim Anderiesen and Leen...

All our ‘Designed by…’ T-shirts have football as inspiration and the collection consists of over 125 different styles. We create our T-shirts in collaboration with some of the greatest graphic artists and famous football photographers from all over the world. The superior quality ‘Made...

A number ten, a playmaker, an unerring finisher, a devastating set-piece taker, a physical powerhouse, endlessly brave, a leader of men, an inspiration, an otherworldly talent. Quite simply Diego Armando Maradona was all of these things and one of the few footballers in history...

Having finished the previous year as runners-up to Uruguay in the Copa America, 1984 proved a quiet year for Brazil featuring just a handful of friendly matches in June of that year. These games were used to give opportunities to up and coming and...

That Spain even qualified for the 1984 European Championships was akin to a miracle. Needing to defeat Malta by an eleven-goal margin in their final group fixture to top their qualifying group, the Spanish incredibly won 12-1. When in France at the tournament proper,...

Champions of the world, champions of Europe, and always the most formidable of opponents thanks to the sheer quality and quantity of top-class talent being created - the 1970s was a wonderful decade for West Germany. The national teams that won the 1972 European...

Austria arrived at the 1990 World Cup in Italy with a talented and experienced side, hoping to build on a strong qualification campaign and make an impression on the biggest stage. Drawn into a difficult group alongside hosts Italy, Czechoslovakia, and the United States,...

Determined to go one better than the runners-up spot earned at the 1974 tournament, the Dutch qualified comfortably for the 1978 competition ahead of local rivals Belgium and traveled to Argentina in confident mood. Form was slow to build, however, and qualification from the...

The 1970s started in some style with Mexico playing a role in making the 1970 tournament, which they hosted, so memorable. Javier de la Torre's team cruised through the group stage with wins over Belgium and El Salvador and a draw with the Soviet...

A strong qualifying campaign saw Portugal edge out the Soviet Union to reach the finals of the 1984 European Championships, the nation's first international tournament participation since 1966. At the tournament proper the players quickly proved they were destined to light up the tournament....

Determined to go one better than the runners-up spot earned at the 1974 tournament, the Dutch qualified comfortably for the 1978 competition ahead of local rivals Belgium and traveled to Argentina in confident mood. Form was slow to build, however, and qualification from the...

Qualification for the 1986 World Cup was secured by Portugal in their final group match thanks to a Carlos Manuel winner against West Germany. This famous victory in Stuttgart ensured that the José Torres-led team edged out Sweden and would travel to Mexico the...

The first half of the 1970s was hardly memorable for the Colombian national team, but there were moments of interest outside the failed World Cup qualification campaigns. A team led by the attacking flair of Ernesto Diaz and Willington Ortiz participated in the 1972...

With the powerhouse midfield presence of Johnny Giles leading a fine generation of talented defensive players like Hurley, Meagan, Dunne, and Cantwell; the 1960s was the decade when for the first time the Republic of Ireland's national team looked set to make a name...

The enormous impact that Algeria made on the 1982 World Cup was all the more remarkable considering the country had only officially established a national team two decades earlier upon independence from France. When the north Africans turned up in Spain, most of the...

Trying to achieve what would be a first World Cup qualification since 1974 and just a second overall, Australia's pursuit of a place at the 1994 tournament in the United States would end in play-off disappointment - just as was the case with so...

The best decade in East Germany's modern football history is remembered for that famous World Cup group stage win over West Germany in 1974, but probably more should have been achieved. With many of the state's greatest players like Jürgen Sparwasser, Joachim Streich, Hans-Jürgen...

Under the stewardship of coach Paul Wolfisberg, Switzerland set out on their 1982 World Cup qualifying campaign eager to earn a place at an international tournament for the first time since 1966. Two of the most celebrated players in the nation´s history, midfielder Heinz...