Winners Brazil
Teams 24
Teams in qualifiers 147
Notable absentees England, France
Surprises Greece, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia
Golden Boot Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), Oleg Salenko (Russia) - 6
Stats A total of 141 goals were scored (2.71 per match); Sweden (15) scored the most
Format Six groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to a knockout round of 16, plus four best 3rd place finishers
Number of matches 52
Innovations
• Three points for a win in group matches as opposed to two in a bid to encourage more attacking play
• Yellow cards accumulated in the group stage were wiped clean after its completion
• Referees were allowed to wear colours other than black to avoid a clash with the two competing teams
• Players had names above their numbers on shirts
• The USA v Switzerland match in the Pontiac Silverdome was the first to be played indoors in World Cup history - although it was still on grass
Controversies
• Chile were banned from the 1994 tournament after their goalkeeper Roberto Rojas pretended to have been hit and seriously hurt by firecrackers thrown by Brazilian fans in a successful bid to get a 1989 qualifier abandoned. FIFA subsequently used TV evidence to prove Rojas' deceit and Brazil were awarded a 2-0 win
• Diego Maradona tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine but the Argentinean FA withdrew him from the tournament before FIFA could ban him and, amazingly, he remained in the USA as a commentator
Trivia
• Colombian defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal against USA that helped knock his team out of the competition. A few days after he and his team-mates returned to Colombia, Escobar was shot dead by gangsters amid speculation his error had cost drug barons millions in gambling losses
• Germany's Stefan Effenberg was sent home by coach Berti Vogts after showing the finger to fans when substituted against South Korea
• Russia's Oleg Salenko shared the Golden Boot with six goals, but five of them came in one match against Cameroon. In the same game, 42-year-old Roger Milla broke his own record, set four years previously, as the oldest man to score in a World Cup finals. He also established a record as the oldest player
• The overall attendance of 3,587,538 - an average of 68,991 per match - was a World Cup record
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