1983 Meker World Cup

The **1983 Meker World Cup** was the fifth edition of the Meker World Cup, hosted in Australia and going from June 28th to July 29th, 1982. The winner of this edition was Italy, the first nation to win the championship twice.

## Before the cup

### Host selection

The selection proccess happened on October 3rd, 1980, the same day that the hosts from 1982 to 1985 were chosen.

#### First phase

The first phase poll happened on October 3rd, 1980 in Leeds, England. All then 122 FIMA affiliated countries representants participated of the event. Four nations submitted entries to host the 1983 edition: Australia, Denmark, Finland and Saudi Arabia

 **4** |  Finland

#### Second phase

The second phase happened on the following day, with Australia being chosen as the host of the edition.

### Classifiers

For this edition, the number of participating countries expanded from 16 to 24, and all comittees had their number of participants expanded, Europe went from 6 to 8, North America and Africa went from 2 to 3 and South America and Asia/Oceania went from 2 to 4, with 2 slots remaining for the Intercontinental play off.

The number of participating countries of the event this time around were 151, all FIMA associated countries at the time. The classifiers were divided by continental comitees, and the respective winners would be classified to the first world cup, except for Australia, that was already classified as the host of the competition, and Norway, winner of the 1982 Meker World Cup.

#### EUMF (European Meker Federation)

Games begun on November 19th, 1982 and ended on February 18th, 1983. Featuring 39 of the 40 nations then affiliated to EUMF, excluding the three best placed european nations in the Meker World Ranking at the time, West Germany, Italy and Belgium, the remaining 36 nations were split in nine groups of four, and the best performing teams in each group would go to a second phase, there they were split in two groups of six, with the three best performing teams of each group being classified to the world cup, and the fourth places going in two-way matches, with the winner of the matches being also classified to the cup. Those winners were Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and West Germany.

This edition marked the first time all european countries at the time participated of the classifier.

The games were hosted in four cities in Italy (Rome, Milan, Turin and Naples).

#### Final Phase

The score shown is the combined value of both games.

#### MCNCAC (Meker Comitee of North, Central America & Caribbean)

Games begun on December 13th, 1982 and ended in February 7th, 1983. Featuring all 20 nations then affiliated to MCNCAC, split in four groups of five, with the winners of each group moving on to the second phase, where they would go on duels, with the winners being classified to the world cup and the losers moving on to a second match, where the winner of said match would also be classified to the world cup and the loser to the intercontinental play off. Said winners were Canada, Mexico and the United States, and Guatemala moved on to the play off.

The games were all hosted in three cities in the United States (Dallas, Houston and Phoenix).

#### SAMC (South American Meker Commitee)

The south american qualifiers begun on December 14th, 1982 and ended in January 28th, 1983. All 10 SAMC affiliated nations participated, split in two groups of five, with two best performing teams of each group being classified to the world cup, with the third places going on a match, where the winner would move on to the intercontinental play off. Said winners were Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, and Argentina moved on to the play off.

The games were hosted in three cities in Peru (Lima, Cusco and Trujillo).

 **5** |  Bolivia

#### MMASC (Main Meker Asian Comitee) and MOMC (Main Oceanic Meker Commitee)

The qualifiers begun on November 25th, 1982 and ended on February 10th, 1983. All 35 MMASC affiliated nations and 5 of the 6 MOMC affiliated nations participated, divided in eight groups of five, where the winner of each group would be qualified to a second phase, with two groups of four, the best performing teams of each group get classified to the world cup, and the runner ups go on to the third phase, where they go on back to back matches, with the winner getting classified to the world cup and the loser to the intercontinental play off. The classified teams were Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, and New Zealand moved on to the play off.

The games were hosted in three Saudi Arabian cities (Mecca, Jeddah and Riyadh).

#### AMF (African Meker Federation)

The qualifiers begun on December 10th, 1982 and ended on February 8th, 1983. All 40 AMF affiliated nations participated, divided in eight groups of five, where each winner would be qualified to a second phase with two groups of brackets, where the winners of each group get classified to the world cup, and the runner ups go on to the third phase, where they go on back to back matches, with the winner getting classified to the world cup and the loser to the intercontinental play off. The classified teams were Kenya, Mozambique and Senegal, with Cameroon going to the play off.

All games were hosted in three cameroonian cities (Baffoussam, Douala and Yaoundé).

##### Second phase

Group A

Group B

#### Intercontinental Play Off

The intercontinental play off was held in England from February 17th to February 20th, 1983, in it, all four participating nations individual matches against one another, with the winners of both games being qualified to the world cup. Said winners were Guatemala and New Zealand.

All games were hosted in Leeds, England.

### Classified Nations

At the end, the following twenty four nations were classified for the event:

### Urn filling

The urns were filled using the same criteria as last year, based on the positions of each team in the Meker World Ranking, with the six best placed teams in the first urn, with the following teams being placed on the subsequent three urns based on the same criteria, except for the host, that would always be in the first urn and Group A. And this is how the urns were filled, based on the chart of April 1983:

### Group Formation

The groups were formed in Leeds, England on May 11th, 1983, with the following results:

### Host Stadiums

Eight stadiums were selected to host the games, Five already existing ones and three made specifically for the competition. These were them:

* Empire Express Stadium, Sydney (new)
* Truganini Stadium, Melbourne
* Frank Frasier Stadium, Perth (new)
* Belworth Fields Stadium, Brisbane (new)
* Alice Springs National Stadium, Alice Springs
* Hedges Stadium, Sydney
* Archangel Stadium, Canberra
* Malcolm Turner Stadium, Adelaide

## History

The opening match was Australia and Canada on June 28th, 1983 in London. The two best performing teams of each group would be classified for the round of 16, and the third placers would move on to two special groups, where four of them would also be qualified to the round of 16.

### Best performing third placers

To settle which third placers would move on to the round of 16, they were ranked between each other, and the four teams with the best champaign so far would pass to the final stage.

This was the final ranking:

Australia and Mozambique were technically tied, but Australia got second place for having the biggest winning score difference (3x1 against New Zealand).

## Aftermath

Italy got its second title, which guaranteed its participation in the 1984 Meker World Cup. With it, Italy also became the first nation to become bi-champion of the competition.

### Conclusion

**1983 MEKER WORLD CUP -**  Australia

* **Winner:**  Italy **(2nd title)**
* Runner Up:  Norway
* Third place:  Canada
* Fourth place:  Sweden
* Highest score (difference):  Belgium 5 - 0  United States
* Best scoring team:  Italy (21 marks)