This Day in History: 2023-06-01

Nr. 467

FOOTBALL ENTERS SPACE (1970)

Football fans glued, beer in hand, to England’s quarter-final defeat by West Germany could probably not have cared less that the pictures arriving on their TV screens had come via space. The 1970 World Cup was the first to be beamed from Mexico to millions of fans worldwide via satellite. It was a logistical nightmare for the TV companies, but, when Brazil hammered Italy 4-1 in the final to take the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time, it was the first time that the yellow and green strip of the World Cup victors had been seen on TV in all its colourful glory.

The dawn of satellite technology reinforced the World Cup’s reputation as a truly global event, watched in all corners of the world.