1987 Meker World Cup

The **1987 Meker World Cup** was the eighth edition of the Meker World Cup, hosted in United States and going from June 26th to July 24th, 1987. The winner of this edition was Canada.

This edition was notorious for being the first that didn't happen a year after the previous one, with the popularity of Meker increasing, the preparation and intensity of each cup did so as well, which led many players to start to feel exhausted of the yearly routine, so, from the 1987 cup onwards, the cup started happening once every two years.

## Before the cup

### Host selection

The selection proccess happened on 1983, the same year the editions of 1989 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. Six nations submitted entries to host the edition:

 **4** |  Colombia
 **5** |  Greece
 **6** |  Bulgaria

#### Second phase

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

### Classifiers

This edition was the first edition to have 32 participating teams as well, with the number of teams of each commitee also increasing, Europe going from 8 to 12, North America going from 3 to 4, South America from 4 to 5, Asia and Oceania from 4 to 5 and Africa from 3 to 4, leaving two spaces left to the intercontinental play off.

The number of participating countries of the event this time around were 181, 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 the United States, that was already classified as the host of the competition, and Italy, winner of the 1985 Meker World Cup.

#### UMF (European Meker Federation)

Games begun on September 9th, 1986 and ended on February 3rd, 1987. Featuring 39 of the 40 nations then affiliated to EUMF.

The games were hosted in four cities in Portugal (Gaia, Lisbon, Porto and Setubal)

##### 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 11th, 1986 and ended in February 9th, 1987. Featuring all 28 of the 29 nations then affiliated to MCNCAC.

The games were all hosted in two cities in Dominican Republic (Santiago and Santo Domingo) one city in Jamaica (Kingston) and one in Puerto Rico (San Juan).

##### First phase

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

##### Second Phase

For the second phase, the teams were split in two groups of four, with the best performing teams moving to the world cup, and the two runner ups going to a final phase.

 **4** |  St. Vincent and The Granadines

#### Final Phase

And in the final phase, the two teams would go on two way matches, with the winner qualifying to the world cup and the loser to the intercontinental play off.

#### SAMC (South American Meker Commitee)

The south american qualifiers begun on September 20th, 1986 and ended in January 29th, 1987. 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 Argentina (Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendonza and Rosario).

 **10** |  Ecuador

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

The qualifiers begun on August 28th, 1986 and ended on February 16th, 1987. All 40 MMASC and all 14 MOMC affiliated nations participated.

All games were hosted in four cities in South Korea (Busan, Daeju, Gwangju and Seoul).

##### First phase

For the first phase, the teams were split in eighteen groups of three, with the best performing teams of each group qualifying to the second phase.

#### Second phase

For the second phase, the teams were split in three groups of six, with the winners of each group qualifying to the world cup, and the runner ups going to the final phase.

#### Final phase

For the final phase, the teams were put together in a single group, with the two best performing teams would be qualified to the world cup, and the last place to the intercontinental play off.

#### AMF (African Meker Federation)

The qualifiers begun on August 30th, 1986 and ended on February 12th, 1987. All 48 AMF affiliated nations participated.

The games were hosted in two cities in Angola (Benguela and Luanda) and two cities in Zaire (Kinshasa and Lubumbashi)

#### First phase

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

#### Second phase

For the second phase, all teams were split in three groups of four, with the three best performing teams being qualified to the world cup, and the runner ups moving on to the final phase.

 **4** |  Rwanda

##### Final phase

In the final phase, all teams were put together in a group, with the winner being qualified to the world cup, and the runner up to the intercontinental play off.

#### Intercontinental Play Off

The intercontinental play off was held in England from February 21st to February 23rd, 1987.

  **Kuwait** | 5 - 2

### Classified Nations

At the end, the following twenty four 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 16th, 1987, with the following results:

### Host Stadiums

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

* Fairview United Stadium, New York (New)
* Paramount Stadium, Los Angeles (New)
* Andrew Garfield Stadium, Chicago (New)
* Miller Park Stadium, Seattle (New)
* New Ascension Stadium, Miami
* Highland Stadium, Houston (New)
* South Montview Stadium, Denver
* McOwens Stadium, Atlanta (New)

## History

The opening match was United States and Brazil on June 26th, 1987 in New York. The two best performing teams of each group would be classified for the round of 16.

## Aftermath

Canada got its first title, which guaranteed its participation in the 1989 Meker World Cup.

## Conclusion

**1987 MEKER WORLD CUP -**  United States

* **Winner:**  Canada **(1st title)**
* Runner Up:  Japan
* Third place:  Belgium
* Fourth place:  Norway
* Highest score (difference):  Canada 12 - 0  Soviet Union
* Best scoring team:  Canada (27 marks)