1989 Meker World Cup

The **1989 Meker World Cup** was the ninth edition of the Meker World Cup, hosted in Norway and going from June 20th to July 19th, 1989. The winner of this edition was Norway.

## Before the cup

### Host selection

The selection proccess happened on 1983, the same year the editions of 1987 and 1991 were chosen. Originally the years picked were from 1986 to 1988, but due to the change in the yearly schedule of the cup, the selected host nations moved to their new assigned years, 1987, 1989 and 1991.

#### First phase

The first phase poll happened on October 6rd, 1983 in Leeds, England. All then 151 FIMA affiliated countries representants participated of the event. Five nations submitted entries to host the edition:

 **4** |  Poland
 **5** |  Tunisia

#### Second phase

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

### Classifiers

The number of participating countries of the event this time around were 186, 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 Norway, that was already classified as the host of the competition, and Canada, winner of the 1987 Meker World Cup.

#### UMF (European Meker Federation)

Games begun on September 11th, 1988 and ended on February 8th, 1989. Featuring 39 of the 40 nations then affiliated to EUMF.

The games were hosted in four cities in Norway (Alesund, Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim).

##### Phase one

For the first phase, the teams were divided in seven groups of five and one group of four, the best teams of each group classifying to the world cup and the runner ups moving on to the second phase.

#### Phase two

In the second phase, the teams went to a bracket where the two best performing teams would be qualified to the world cup, plus the winner of the third place match.

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

Games begun on September 13th, 1988 and ended in February 1st, 1989. Featuring all 30 of the 31 nations then affiliated to MCNCAC.

The games were all hosted in four cities in Mexico (Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey)

##### First phase

The phase begun with all teams being split in six groups of five, with the best performing teams of each group moving on to the second phase.

##### Second Phase

For the second phase, the teams were put in an individual group, with the three best performing teams moving to the world cup, and the fourth place going to the intercontinental play off.

 **6** |  Jamaica

#### SAMC (South American Meker Commitee)

The south american qualifiers begun on September 20th, 1988 and ended in January 29th, 1989. All 10 SAMC affiliated nations participated.

For this year, all teams were put in a singular group, with the five best performing teams going to the world cup and the sixth place moving on to the intercontinental play off.

The games were hosted in four cities in Peru (Chimbote, Cuzco, Lima and Trujillo).

 **10** |  Bolivia

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

The qualifiers begun on August 26th, 1988 and ended on February 18th, 1989. All 40 MMASC and all 15 MOMC affiliated nations participated.

All games were hosted in four cities in China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan).

##### First phase

For the first phase, the teams were split in eleven groups of five, with the best performing teams of each group, plus the best runner up overall, qualifying to the second phase.

#### Second phase

For the second phase, the teams were split in two groups of six, with the two best performing teams of each group qualifying to the world cup, and the third placers going to the final phase.

 **5** |  Brunei
 **6** |  Papua-New Guinea

#### Final phase

For the final phase, both teams would go on two-way matches, with the winner being qualified to the world cup and the loser moving to the intercontinental play off.

#### AMF (African Meker Federation)

The qualifiers begun on August 28th, 1988 and ended on February 16th, 1989. All 50 AMF affiliated nations participated.

This was the first qualifier to have all allowed african nations (at the time) participating.

The games were hosted in two cities in Senegal (Dakar and St. Louis), one in Gambia (Banjul) and one in Guinea (Conakry).

#### First phase

All teams were split in ten groups of five, with the winner of each group moving on to the second phase.

#### Second phase

For the second phase, all teams were split in two groups of five, with the two best performing teams being qualified to the world cup, and the third placers moving on to the final phase.

 **5** |  Cameroon

#### Final phase

For the final phase, both teams would go on two-way matches, with the winner being qualified to the intercontinental play off.

#### Intercontinental Play Off

The intercontinental play off was held in England from February 25th to February 27th, 1989.

  **Ethiopia** | 3S - 3

### Classified Nations

At the end, the following thirty two nations were classified for the event:

"#" = Quantity of cups participated

"C" = Quantity of consecutive cups participated

### 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 eight 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 1985:

### Group Formation

The groups were formed in Leeds, England on May 13th, 1989, with the following results:

### Host Stadiums

Eight stadiums were selected to host the games, One already existing one and seven made specifically for the competition. These were them:

* Frogner Stadium, Oslo (New)
* Nordverdt Stadium, Drammen (New)
* Flotte Tarn Stadium, Bergen (New)
* Gloshaugen Stadium, Trondheim (New)
* Eiketraer Stadium, Kristiansand (New)
* Lagard Stadium, Stavanger
* Klart Vann Stadium, Sarpsborg (New)
* Marensro Stadium, Skien (New)

## History

The opening match was Norway and Colombia on June 20th, 1989 in Oslo. The two best performing teams of each group would be classified for the round of 16.

## Aftermath

Norway got its second title, which guaranteed its participation in the 1991 Meker World Cup.

## Conclusion

**1989 MEKER WORLD CUP -**  Norway

* **Winner:**  Norway **(2nd title)**
* Runner Up:  Denmark
* Third place:  Sweden
* Fourth place:  Poland
* Highest score (difference):  Portugal 7 - 0  United States
* Best scoring team:  Sweden (24 marks)