Coins of San Marino 500 Lire Silver Coin 1990 FIFA World Cup
Commemorative issue: 1990 FIFA World Cup champions
Obverse: Patterned design surrounds oval shield at center
Lettering: REPUBBLICA DI SAN MARINO LIBERTAS
Engraver: Guido Veroi
Reverse: 1990 World Cup Winners
Lettering: CAMPIONATI MONDALI DI CALCIO 1990 R L.500 VEROI
Edge description: RELINQUO VOS LIBEROS
Engraver: Guido Veroi
Composition: Silver
Fineness: 0.8350
Weight: 11.0000 g
ASW: 0.2953 oz
Diameter: 29 mm
Mint Mark: R - Rome, Italy
Mintage: BU 40.000
Proof 19.000
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice (the first being Mexico in 1986). Teams representing 116 national football associations entered, and qualification began in April 1988. A total of 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy and defending champion Argentina.
The 1990 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match played between West Germany and Argentina to determine the winner of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The game took place on 8 July 1990 at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, and was won 1–0 by West Germany, with a late penalty kick taken by Andreas Brehme being the game's only goal.
It was the first time a team from UEFA had won the World Cup final against a non-European team. Argentina were the defending champions, having beaten West Germany 3–2 in the 1986 FIFA World Cup Final in Mexico. Thus the 1990 final was the only 'repeat' final at consecutive World Cups. It was West Germany's last World Cup match; the team played three more games before a unified German team was formed.
Italy finished third, and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts. This was the last tournament to feature a team from the divided Germany, with the country being reunified later in 1990. Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE made their first appearances in the finals, and Egypt its first since 1934. The official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico.
The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups. It generated an average 2.21 goals per game – a record low that still stands – and a then-record 16 red cards, including the first ever dismissal in a final. This World Cup saw the introduction of the pre-match Fair Play Flag (then inscribed with "Fair Play Please") to encourage fair play. Negative tactics led to the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992, and three points for a win instead of two at future World Cups.
Nonetheless, the 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers over the course of the tournament. This was the first World Cup to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV by the Italian broadcaster RAI in association with Japan's NHK. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, but was bettered by the 1994 and 2002 World Cups.