This month sees the return of the World Cup retrospective, with the focus being on the 1978 tournament in Argentina, arguably the most controversial World Cup in history.  In 1966, Argentina were awarded the rights to host the 1978 World Cup – an honour that was long overdue for one of football’s leading nations. However, the deteriorating political, security and economic situation in the twilight years of Peronism, cast doubt over whether Argentina would be able to host the tournament.  The military coup of 1976 ushered in a repressive regime, that was determined to crush all opposition and use the World Cup to promote the Argentinian “brand”. However, as the World Cup grew closer, alarm bells rang across Europe about the competition being hosted in a despotic country.  Those controversies will be looked at in this episode, as well having a run-down of the 16 finalists.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info/ for the national anthems.

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