Word: fifa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Adios, as well, almost all traditions at this Mundial '82 Cup. In what the French are calling "le mundial des surprises," a handful of low-ranked national teams are generating shock waves and upsets. This year, for the first time, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), soccer's Swiss-based, iron-fisted ruling organization, expanded the number of qualifying first-round teams from 16 to 24. The soccer heavyweights complained. The inclusion of nations such as El Salvador, Northern Ireland and Algeria would merely prolong the first round, they muttered privately. Teams like Cameroon and Kuwait would...
...players were briefly sequestered in the Sahara-like climate of Valladolid in north-central Spain but worked out twice daily (and prayed to Allah the requisite five times daily). They broke the monotony by appearing for carefully rehearsed "photo opportunities," dancing around their camel mascot, which sports a FIFA identity card and a team jacket...