Inside the most chaotic World Cup draw of all time - conducted by Spanish schoolboys
dailystar.co.ukWorld Cup draw in 1982. FIFA intended to revolutionise both the competition and the draw itself for the tournament held in Spain, expanding the format from 16 nations to 24.What is now known as one of the most farcical draws of all time began with the governing body opting to ditch the old ‘names in a hat’ format in favour of special cages containing little footballs, each containing a qualifier.
The cages were then meant to spew out a football which local Spanish schoolboys handed to the FIFA chiefs sat at the table.Things immediately got off to a shaky start as the mechanical cages failed to open and release the balls at the right time.
It got even worse when an official couldn’t actually unscrew a ball to reveal a name.But the greatest travesty came when Scotland were drawn and placed in Argentina’s group.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter realised a mistake had been made and ordered the ball to be placed back in the cage, demanding a re-draw.He admitted there had been an error when Belgium was drawn in Italy’s group and they were instead placed in Argentina’s group.
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