The Story of the 1970 World Cup — The Greatest Tournament Ever Played

The 1970 FIFA World Cup, held in Mexico in June, is widely regarded as the greatest football tournament ever staged. This is not a recent revision or a product of nostalgia. It was regarded as such at the time, and the passing of five decades has only reinforced the verdict. The football was extraordinary. The players were extraordinary. And Brazil's team — the finest international side in the history of the sport — played football of a quality that has never been fully matched.

The Context — England the Holders, Brazil the Favourites

England arrived in Mexico as World Cup holders for the first time. Alf Ramsey's squad was strong — Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, plus new talents like Alan Ball and Francis Lee. The expectation was that they would contest the final with Brazil.

Brazil, meanwhile, had assembled what many regard as the greatest international squad ever. Pele, thirty years old, had returned from his self-imposed international exile after the brutality of 1966. Around him were Jairzinho — who scored in every match of the tournament, a feat never replicated before or since — Rivelino, Gerson, Tostão, and at right-back, Carlos Alberto Torres, whose captain's goal in the final against Italy remains perhaps the most celebrated in World Cup history.

Gordon Banks and the Save That Stopped Pele

The group stage match between England and Brazil on 7 June 1970 in Guadalajara produced the finest individual save in football history.

Jairzinho collected the ball on the right wing and crossed it into the England penalty area. Pele met it with a powerful downward header towards the bottom right corner of Banks's goal. Pele had already begun shouting "Goal." The ball was heading towards the bottom corner at pace.

Gordon Banks dived to his right, reached behind himself, and somehow scooped the ball over the crossbar with his right hand. Pele, who had already been turning to celebrate, put both hands on his head. "I thought that was a goal," he said afterwards. "I still don't know how he saved it."

Banks himself, interviewed about it for the rest of his life, was always modest. "I just dived and stuck my hand out," he said. It was considerably more than that. Physics suggests what he did should not have been possible. The ball was heading down and away from him. He changed its direction completely in a fraction of a second. It remains, decades later, the greatest save ever made.

Brazil won the match 1-0. England's goalkeeper had been magnificent. The contest between the two sides had been everything the football world had hoped for.

England's Quarter-Final — The Collapse Against West Germany

England met West Germany in the quarter-finals — a rematch of the 1966 final. England led 2-0 with twenty-five minutes to play. Ramsey, concerned about fitness, substituted Bobby Charlton — to preserve him for the semi-final, he said. West Germany scored. Then scored again. Then, in extra time, scored a third. England, 2-0 up and apparently coasting, lost 3-2.

It was one of the most shocking results in World Cup history. Ramsey, and in particular his decision to substitute Charlton, was criticised severely. The 1966 champions were out.

Brazil — The Greatest Team the World Cup Has Ever Seen

Brazil progressed through the tournament playing football that has never been matched. They beat England 1-0, Czechoslovakia 4-1, Romania 3-2. In the quarter-finals they beat Peru 4-2. In the semi-finals they beat Uruguay 3-1 — a match that produced Pele's extraordinary dummy, in which he ran past the ball as it came to him in space, the goalkeeper committed, the ball going inches past the post. It was the most audacious piece of skill the World Cup had ever seen, and it did not even result in a goal.

The final against Italy was settled 4-1. Pele scored the first. Carlos Alberto scored the fourth — a thunderous right-foot strike after a move that involved eight Brazilian players, played at pace across the full width of the pitch. It was the perfect goal, scored by the perfect team, in the perfect tournament.

Pele lifted the trophy for the third time. Brazil were champions of the world for the third time. They were allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently — the rules stated that a nation winning three times would receive the original trophy. They took it to Brazil. It was stolen in 1983 and never recovered.

Why 1970 Matters

The 1970 World Cup was the first to be broadcast in colour. That matters — not just historically, but aesthetically. Brazil's yellow shirts against the green pitches of Mexico, the vivid colours of the football kit, the brightness of a Mexican June — all of it came through on television screens in a way that black and white had never allowed. The tournament looked as beautiful as it played.

And the football itself set a standard that has never been fully matched. The combination of technical excellence, individual brilliance, collective organisation, and attacking intent that Brazil brought to every match remains the benchmark against which all other international teams are measured. They are still being measured against it, fifty years later.

Shop the Brazil collection and the England collection at Players Couture, and browse our Classic World Cup Sticker Icons celebrating the legends of 1970.