Was the 2002 FIFA World Cup Fixed? 

Can't wait till Qatar beat France 11-0 in the next World Cup final

I was 13 yo at the time of the finals I remember the media here in brazil joked that South Korea played with 4-3-3-3 formation, with the addition of the 3 referees. LOL

Byron Moreno was not given a heroe's welcome, Ecuador despites him because of the horrible performances on the 2002 World cup. As a matter of fact, the ecuadorian football culture still hates him. He left a bad reputation for ecuadorian referees. And, as of this moment, Conmebol (the intitution of football in latinamerica) still prefers other nations to represent them in official tournaments. We are trying to erase him from our footballing history, but we will not able to.

2022: Qatar reaches quarterfinals 2026: Canada reaches Round of 16, USA reaches semis, and Mexico breaks Round of 16 curse and goes to the Quarter Finals

The history of the referee was hilarious - definitely suspect

Can you make a video on how Kaiserslautern won the Bundesliga as a newly promoted club 1997/98 and how they fell apart. Coz they're now in the third division of German football.

One minor correction: With proper officiating, Italy would have won, not drawn. The disallowed valid goal was a golden goal under the rules at the time, meaning KOR's 2nd goal never happens.

"All sports are fixed, it's just that pro wrestlers are the worst actors." - can't remember who said it found it quite funny.

Phillip Lahm's Final Starting XI - Where are they now?

The Spain match was the bigger robbery of the two, and possibly one of the biggest in WC history. Those disallowed goals have been proven to have been incorrectly disallowed. But Spain would have lost the semis, but still

I'm Irish & in my opinion the Ireland v Spain last 16 game was also fixed but Ireland was too incompetent to win. In that game Ireland was awarded 2 penalties. We scored the 2nd to take the game to ET. Spain also had 3 or 4 goals disallowed in 90mins. IIRC the 1st goal was disallowed goal was offside. The 2nd goal disallowed for offside was not offside. I think there was a 3rd goal disallowed for offside that was not offside. At the start of the 2nd half another Spainish goal was dissllowed. Even the Irish tv commentary team couldn't understand why that goal was disallowed. I think FIFA wanted Ireland to progress to play S. Korea as they would need less help v Ireland than they needed against Spain.

That Italy squad was phenomenal. I remember feeling they would win it before the tournament.

Jesus, how is 9:10 Joaquin still casually captaining for Real Betis almost two decades later

Quick correction: Japan actually qualified for the 1998 World Cup.

I was 13 at the time, we were even allowed to watch some of the big games in school. Good times.

That was the first World Cup I've watched in full. I was a baby in 1994 and I wasn't yet into football in 1998. My mother is Brazilian, so naturally I supported Brazil. I have fond memories of that World Cup:)

By the sound of your voice I would have imagined you being way older than me and we’re the same age it appears.

Idea: top 7 years that produced the best players

People talkin' like bad decisions at 2002 World Cup is a travesty but name Maradona's handball goal as the 'hand of god'. WTF with the double standard?

Italy was in great shape, we (México) barely managed to tie with them thanks to a formidable header by Borgetti, only to later lose to the US. I remember our school switched the entrance time so we could watch the games, I got up in the wee hours to watch the games. Good times

7 dodgy decisions made by referees at World Cups.

short answer: yes

Annoyed Irish fan here, if it wasn’t for the shocking conditions the Irish had during this World Cup we would have definitely got past the round of 16 stage with the captain Roy Keane still being there

I hadn’t seen this one when you put it out, I’m glad you do callbacks in your current work to some previous videos like todays or I would of still missed it!

Italy vs Spain would've been a good game man ffs and the winner vs Germany

idea: 7 players who won topscorers in their league even though their club was relegated (like igor protti in serie a 1995/96 or quini 1975/76 in la liga)

No one ever talks about Portugal get two Red Cards to help Korea Advance from the Group Stage, or that they may have had 4 subs instead of 3 vs Poland

Roy Jones Jr. could give you a few tips about South Korean host nation "influence"

I had tickets to all the England games but it clashed with my final university final exams. I chose not to go, got a 1st but still think I should have gone.

2009-2010 Football Conference Teams: Where Are They Now?

13:03 And people still argues against VAR. There can be no honest argument against VAR.

I am an Italy fan and the manner of the elimination left me incredibly embittered. A few days later I was even more incensed when yet again the referee sided with South Korea against Spain. As soon as the referees stopped doing their "job", South Korea were easily set aside by Germany and Turkey. That said, it is unhelpful to focus solely on South Korea/Italy/Spain. The whole tournament was riddled with ridiculous officiating mistakes, below just some which I can recall. -Turkey v/s Brazil: Rivaldo's drama to get opponents sent off. -Argentina v/s England: Owen dives for a penalty, Collina pretends not to see the dive and gives it. To be fair Batistuta should probably have received a second yellow earlier in that game. -Italy v/s Croatia: two valid goals by Italy (Vieri and Inzaghi) disallowed by the lord of bad referees, Graham Poll. -South Korea v/s Portugal: some pretty contentious decisions there, all directed against the Portuguese. Joao Pinto sent off after just 27 minutes in a must-win game for the Portuguese. -Italy v/s Mexico: another non-existent offside found against Italy as they scored. -Belgium v/s Brazil: the Belgians take the lead with a superb acrobatic goal, only for it to be disallowed for a foul nobody had seen. Brazil go on to win 2-0. -South Korea v/s Italy: Moreno messed up this game so badly that his most glaring error went unnoticed. Gattuso scored what should have been a winner, only for a non-existent offside to be given yet again. -Germany v/s USA: USA almost score on a corner as one of their players heads the ball. A German on the line saves with his hand... officials rule there's nothing to see!

Short answer: yes Long answer: yeeeeeeesssssssssss

The history of Jorge “El Magico” Gonzalez.

Keane’s goal vs Germany was the real highlight! Back when we were good 😌

Fantastic review of the WC. Great stuff.

idea 7 players that picked their club over money. E.g Gerrard, Totti, etc

Spain's second disallowed goal cannot really be considered a "disallowed goal". The linesman signaled for a goal kick just after the cross and the referee had already blown his whistle before Morientes' header. The Korean goalie didn't try to make the save. There were a few sketchy decisions in that match, though, particularly two very tight (or non-existing) offsides.

Every World Cup since 1998 has been a bit suspect. The corruption with FIFA became much more obvious from the bidding stages all the way through.

The most frustrating thing about South Korea getting to the Semi Finals is that it denied us the possibility of seeing either Italy or Spain play Brazil in the final. Instead that painfully average Germany side made it to the final instead. Convinced both Italy and Spain would have beaten that German side in the Semi Finals. Both would imo have given Brazil a much better game in the final. The German 2002 side have to be the luckiest side to have mad a World Cup final in my lifetime. A German side which had only 3 good players in it, Oliver Kahn, who was a deserving Golden Ball winner, Michael Ballack who got the goal to get them to the final despite his booking ruling him out and of course Miroslav Klose who chipped in with their goals. It really was an average German side with the exception of those three players and they would have been lucky to get beyond the Last 16 without Kahn, Ballack and Klose. After all, England had destroyed them 5-1 in a qualification game just 9 months earlier. Rudi Voller also has to go down as the luckiest coach to make a World Cup final. As it showed in Euro 2004 when Germany couldnt even beat Latvia in Euro 2004 groups and crashed out after a loss to the already qualified Czech Republic in their final group match. Even Germany's run to the final was very fortunate. South Korea outplayed them in spells in the Semi Finals and had it not been for Kahn in the Quarter Finals, USA would have beaten them after dominating the whole game. However, one could say that Voller was a reluctant coach and really never should have gotten Die Mannschaft job in the first place. He took job in 2000 on a caretaker basis whilst Christoph Daum finished his contract at Leverkusen and then he would take the German job in 2001. However, an alleged cocaine scandal broke out and Daum instantly pulled out of the arrangement to coach Die Mannschaft and Voller took the reigns full time after that. Unsurprisingly, after leaving Germany job in 2004 after poor showing at that summer's Euros, Voller only had one more short and ill fated spell in management at Roma in late 2004.

Guus Hiddink is known for this, his other teams like Australia and Russia in 2008 performed very well, despite their underdog status

The joke at the time was the WC was fixed and Scotland still failed to qualify. The only team in history to have not benefitted from such corruption.

Most nuanced video about this subject that I've seen so far.

what annoys me is the massive double standard. whenever italians are aggressive and commit fouls, it's regarded as "the italian physical style of play", as though it is something normal and expected of italy's national team. but when italy is on the receiving end of physical play, all of a sudden, it's unfair?

From World Cup referee to hardcore heroin smuggler. Sounds like a movie.

Buffon was Italy's goalkeeper in the 2002 world cup and he still plays. Impressive.

Well researched good video

the italy 1934 was absolutely outrageous. czechoslovakia was far better and was winning , but then they where simply kicked out of the field with refree just watching, they were reportetly attacked from the stands as well

do a video on the 2009 champions league semi-final chelsea vs barcelona

I remember this world cup for morning kick offs and every pub offer a breakfast pint and a bacon sandwich for £3. Happy days

South Koreans remembered this fondly.

Technically three goals for Spain cause they called the threw ball offside when it wasn't and he just gave it to the goalie

I’ll save you 16 minutes of your life: Yes

The way you pronounced Joaquin 😯😯

The 1982 World Cup they changed the rules based on this WC

still remember this world cup so vividly

Thank you fot using my idea. I requested it for 4 videos straight

Can you make a vid on the 1982 World Cup match Austria vs West Germany and the match fixing complaints the Algerians and pretty much anyone gave lol

Excellent unbiased video 👍🏼

As a german, the only thing i remember about this tournament was me wondering how we got to the Final.

I have watched (live, while they were happening) all the World Cups since 1978 and to be honest, only Argentina in 1978 and Korea in 2002 had the type of home advantage which has to do with officiating. In the other editions the home teams perhaps had home advantage in terms of having more supporters, but for instance Spain, Mexico, Italy, France and Germany were great teams in the editions they hosted between 1986 and 2006 and, apart from Mexico in 86, they all had the quality for even winning the editions they were hosting and France actually did

In general Italy should have done better, but also in the group stage they were wrongly denied the tying goal against Croatia and another regular goal when the match against Mexico was 0-0

The refereeing in the Italy Korea match was 100% dodgey.

Fifa wouldn't looked into match fixing of the 2002 world cup if they weren't totally corrupt themselves.

The answer is simple: Yes it was.

Other than a series of outrageous one-sided calls I see no evidence of foul play. Nope, none: Really.

Brilliant video

"Meanwhile the rest of the world pointed out the logistical nightmare for fans, this was a cloud that hung over most the tournament" Once the tournament started, I can't recall anyone even mentioning the travelling - seemed very smooth is this regard.

Great vid. Just a couple of points. In the case of the disallowed goals from Tomassi for Italy and Morientes for Spain, the whistle was blown considerably before the ball was put in the net in both instances and the defenders and goalkeepers stopped. Perhaps they would have scored anyway, but realistically we'll never know. Also a quick fact correction: South Korea's World Cup record prior to 2002 was actually played 14, won 0, drawn 4, lost 10.

Japanese stadiums though... decades ahead of Europe at the time. Sapporo Dome was my favourite, and blew my mind with its hoovering interchangeable pitches. Which one was your favourite / you found as the most interesting venue from FIFAWorldCup2002?

Hey HITC, could u compile us a video about how the sports world (soccer world in particular) was affected by any other pandemics or epidemics, such as spanish flu and sorts

More vids like this please!

What I remember about 02 was Germany handball on the line vs the USA

Not just the Spaniards and Italians! The Portuguese too! Portugal is always forgotten in this discussion . The ref made highly questionable decisions when Portugal and Korea faced each other in the group stage.

The Spain game had a criminal offside call against them too. It would have led to a one-on-one situation with the goalie.

Watch this channel when i have trouble sleeping

You failed to mention how FIFA mismanaged ticket allocation and thousands of people never received their tickets. The only way to sell those tickets afterwards was to have the home nation progress and more than quadruple the ticket prices

It wasn't just that Moreno made some bad calls - all refs have their bad days. It was that almost every call favoured Korea and punished Italy. That is why the game stinks of corruption.

Interesting point about the choice of continents. Probably about time it was hosted in Australia

Feeling bad about a World Cup fixed at Italy’s expense is like feeling bad about Thatcher dying

I am old enough, and I was watching all matches of the 2002 World Cup. Four takeaways from me: 1) Some referees were horrible indeed. 2) Italy wasn't that good as people here think. 3) Spain still could've won on penalties and no one would say a word. 4) Koreans were actually quite decent. Plenty of them got contracts in good European leagues (including Serie A) after the World Cup.

I don’t remember that Spanish game. I remember vividly the Italy - South Korea game; I am of Italian origin. Italy could have avoided the consequences of the bad refereeing decisions if they hadn’t decided to play defensively and try to sit on a 1 - 0 lead. At one point you could see Trappatoni screaming at his team “gli, no gli (here, not there”. From his hand gestures, it was clear he wanted his team to play back. Once they had the lead, until the Koreans scored the Latin’s goal, the Italians played with 10 men behind the ball; only Vieri was in front of the ball. They never really could come back after the goal. Italians go on about corruption at the World Cup in 2002. It avoids them confronting the fact that their coach blew it for them.

The first goal by Turkey in the 3rd place game against S. Korea at a record 9th second was faster than any attempt to manipulate the game. :))

Watching that Italy game, when it happened, I clearly remember thinking I'd never seen a ref more obviously paid for.

I remember the excitement of Turkey's run to bronze.

aggressive play by SK, against Italy and Spain, pots calling kettle....

Which countries that haven't hosted a World Cup would make a great host? For me, I'd like to see on in the Netherlands or Belgium

A shocking yet nostalgic world cup full of memories and surprises. Lots of star players and a feeling of happiness. Still shook at how many big teams failed to reach the knockout stages like Argentina, Portugal, Uruguay & France. Even with the Netherlands and Yugoslavia not qualifying was a big shock nevertheless, an interesting world cup.

This is the most fair and unbiased video there is on this topic. Thank you

“This video is sponsored by the South Korean Football Association.”

Thanks for the info! Great vid as always.

The referees also gifted Brazil the win in their group stage game vs Turkey.

Not the only time Koreans are accused of fixing sporting events, just sayin

I'm old enough to remember it well, I thought it was a fix at the time and still do now.

What i have heard is used to favour the home sides by the organisers is to appoint officials from lesser nations as they can be more easily bribed with offers to officiate other matches later on. Plus they are less likely to make strong decisions against the home side

10:41 , lower left corner. I didn't know that the singer of The Pogues played for England in 66. Did you?

The first time I recall _Italy_ being on the receiving end of dirty tactics. I remember being at once incensed and mildly amused...

"presumably just winding Italians up at this stage" lol

Two host nations where Blatter the crook was looking to make money from. One of them, japan, was eliminated on the morning. The second, S Korea was due to play in the afternoon. Did anyone really think they'd go out?

Could you make a video with the best team from every country in europe/the world?