World Cup Qualifier Featuring Only One Team Called 'Saddest in Football History'
Chile and the Soviet Union once took part in a World Cup qualifier dubbed ‘the saddest game in football history'.
South American nation Chile and the Soviet Union – dissolved in 1991 before becoming Russia and 15 independent countries – competed for a place in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany via a two-legged play-off in 1973.
After a 0-0 draw in the Soviet capital of Moscow, all was to play for at Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos in Santiago, Chile.
But bizarrely, just 17 seconds after referee Erich Linemayr had blown for kick-off, the home side scored into a vacant net via skipper Francisco Valdes.
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The Austrian official then blew the whistle once more, this time blowing for full-time, handing Chile a 1-0 win – later turned into a 2-0 default victory – ultimately securing their place in the 1974 World Cup at the USSR's expense.
The game was strange for more reasons than one – namely due to the fact that the USSR boycotted the match, meaning the Chilean side were forced to play against no opposition in a more or less empty stadium.
The reason for the Soviets’ boycott was due to Chile being under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled the South American nation for 17 years between September 1973 and March 1990.
The USSR suggested that the game be played in a neutral country, with FIFA then sending a small delegation to assess the situation before they recommended that the game should still go ahead.
The Soviet Soccer Federation was also fined by FIFA and later released a statement condemning the global football governing body’s decision to let the game take place in a “stadium [which] has been turned into an area of torture and execution”.
“It is well known that, as a result of the fascist upheaval to overthrow the legal government, an atmosphere of bloody terrorism and repression prevails throughout Chile,” part of the statement read.
Chile were knocked out in the group stage of the 1974 tournament.
According to the Red Cross, relayed by The Athletic, more than 30,000 opponents of the regime led by Pinochet were held captive in the stadium where the match took place, with up to 7,000 detained at one time.
The stadium was used as an overflow once the jails and police cells were full following Pinochet’s overthrow of socialist Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.
Ximena George-Nascimento, a political prisoner, explained: “In 1973, the hypocrisy of FIFA and of the Chilean members of the South American confederation at the time is shown by allowing a game to take place during a dictatorship in a stadium in which political prisoners were detained, tortured and killed.”
Chile was liberated from Pinochet’s dictatorship when Patricio Aylwin was democratically elected as president in December 1989.
Pinochet died aged 91 in December 2006.
As per BBC News, a 2011 report by a Chilean commission investigating human rights abuses under the former military leader recognised more than 40,000 victims. In excess of 3,000 people were killed or disappeared under Pinochet's rule.
Luke Davies