1982 Meker World Cup

The **1982 Meker World Cup** was the fourth edition of the Meker World Cup, hosted in Japan and going from June 29th to July 24th, 1982. The winner of this edition was Norway.

This edition is notable for being the first one hosted outside of Europe.

## Before the cup

### Host selection

The selection proccess happened on October 3rd, 1980, the same day that the hosts from 1983 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 event: Austria, Canada, Japan and Mexico

 **4** |  Austria

#### Second phase

The second phase happened on the following day, with a notable turn of events, where japan, the runner up of the previous day poll, assumed the lead, and was chosen to be the host instead of Mexico.

### Classifiers

The fourth edition was the first to keep the same number of classifying countries as the previous one: 16.

The number of participating countries of the event this time around were 122, 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 Japan, that was already classified as the host of the competition, and West Germany, winner of the 1981 Meker World Cup.

#### EUMF (European Meker Federation)

Games begun on November 24th, 1981 and ended on February 16th, 1982. Featuring 33 of the 34 nations then affiliated to EUMF, where they were split in eleven groups of three, and the best performing teams in each group would go in two-way duels, with the respective winners being qualified to the world cup. Those winners were Belgium, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.

The games were hosted in four cities in England (London, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham)

#### First phase

East Germany did not move on to the second phase, for being the worst performing winner of Europe.

#### Second Phase

The score shown is the combination of the score of both games.

  **Italy** | 4 - 3
  Czechoslovakia

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

Games begun on January 2nd, 1982 and ended in February 7th, 1982. Featuring all 16 nations then affiliated to MCNCAC, split in two groups of eight, with two winners being classified to the world cup, with the runner ups going on a match, where the winner would move on to the intercontinental play off. Said winners were Canada and Mexico, and Honduras moved on to the play off.

The games were all hosted in three cities in Canada (Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal)

#### SAMC (South American Meker Commitee)

The south american qualifiers begun on December 22nd, 1981 and ended in January 28th, 1982. All 10 SAMC affiliated nations participated, split in two groups of six, with two winners being classified to the world cup, with the runner ups going on a match, where the winner would move on to the intercontinental play off. Said winners were Argentina and Uruguay, and Colombia moved on to the play off.

The games were hosted in three cities in Colombia (Bogota, Medellin and Barranquilla)

 **4** |  Peru
 **5** |  Paraguay

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

The qualifiers begun on November 28th, 1981 and ended on February 8th, 1982. 32 of the 33 MMASC affiliated nations and all 4 MOMC affiliated nations participated, divided in nine groups of four, where the winner of each group would be qualified to a second phase, with two groups of four, the winners would be classified for a fina duel, with its winner being classified to the world cup and the loser to the intercontinental play off. Said winner was South Korea and the runner up was Thailand.

The games were hosted in three Australian Cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Perth)

##### First phase

India was not classified to the second phase since it was the worst performing winner.

##### Second Phase

 **3** |  United Arab Emirates
 **4** |  China

#### AMF (African Meker Federation)

The qualifiers begun on December 12th, 1981 and ended on February 7th, 1982. All 25 AMF affiliated nations participated, divided in five groups of five, where each winner would be qualified to a second phase with one group of five, where the two best performing teams would be classified to the world cup and the third best to the intercontinental play off. And they were Senegal and Nigeria, with South Africa going to the play off.

All games were hosted in three egyptian cities (Cairo, Alexandria and Giza)

#### Intercontinental Play Off

The intercontinental play off was held in England from February 15th to February 17th, 1982, 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 Uruguay and Australia.

All games were hosted in Leeds, England.

  Kenya

### Classified Nations

At the end, the following sixteen 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 four 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 1982:

  Italy (1)
  West Germany (2)
  Norway (4)

### Group Formation

The groups were formed in Leeds, England on May 7th, 1982, with the following results:

  Sweden
  Mexico
  Thailand

### Host Stadiums

Six stadiums were selected to host the games, Four of which were already made before the competition, and two others (Hodogaya and Sekiya) made specially for the cup. These were them:

* Hodogaya Stadium, Yokohama
* Umeda Stadium, Osaka
* Karasuma Oike Stadium, Kyoto
* Kanayama Stadium, Nagoya
* Sekiya Stadium, Niigata
* Urawa Stadium, Saitama

## History

The opening match was Japan and Sweden on June 29th, 1982 in London. The two best performing teams of each group would be classified for the quarter finals.

### Final Stage

The two best teams of each group moved to the quarter finals in a bracket system. Eliminating one by one until only the winner remains.

## Aftermath

Norway got its first title, which guaranteed its participation in the 1983 Meker World Cup.

### Conclusion

**1982 MEKER WORLD CUP -**  Japan

* **Winner:**  Norway **(1st title)**
* Runner Up:  Sweden
* Third place:  Portugal
* Fourth place:  Japan
* Highest score (difference):  Norway 8 - 0  Argentina
* Best scoring team:  Norway (23 marks)