3 infamous controversies in the World Cup

World Cup Finals, 1962 Santiago, Chile. 2nd June, 1962. Italy 0 v Chile 2. English referee Ken Aston tries to bring order after fighting broke out between Italian and Chilean players during their group two match dubbed as 'The Battle of Santiago'. Chile' — *****

With the FIFA World Cup 2018 a little more than a week away, football fans all across the globe look all set for the football fiesta. The biggest prize in football is up for grabs, and the participating nations are gearing up to battle it out for international glory.

World Cup has always been an intriguing affair. A tournament which has left the world bemused at times. It is a pure footballing delight with a fair share of controversies and scandals to its name throughout the history.

Politics, match-fixing, bribery - the World Cup has seen it all. With Mexican national side already involved in a prostitution scandal, this World Cup seems to be no different than the previous versions of the tournament.

Let's have a recap and revisit 3 of the many infamous controversies and scandals that affected the World Cup.

#3 The Battle of Santiago (1962)

The name comes from a very infamous and action-packed (for all the wrong reasons) encounter between Italy and Chile.

It was the 7th edition of the World Cup and hosts Chile were on thin ice. The preparations for the World Cup took a major blow because of the Valdivia Earthquake in 1960. A recovering Chile was doing all it could to make the tournament a success when an article published by two Italian reporters on Chile lead to an uproar.

The article defined the capital city of Santiago as a backwater dump in a small and proud country infested with poverty, illiteracy and open prostitution and the decision to allow Chile to continue as hosts as pure madness. The Chilean media hit back at the Italians and labelled them as fascists, mafiosos and drug addicts.

The bad blood between the two nations reflected in their infamous and bloody encounter at the World Cup. The match saw two players sent off, punches thrown around, scuffles and spitting between the two teams and a total of four interventions by the Police.

Chile went onto win the match 2-0, and this match inspired the referee Ken Aston to invent the yellow and the red cards.