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6 - The Game of Shame

Chile vs. Soviet Union, Santiago, November 1973

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2026

Tony Shaw
Affiliation:
University of Hertfordshire
Alan McDougall
Affiliation:
University of Guelph, Ontario
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Summary

This chapter explores the role football played in Cold War South America in the 1970s, including World Cup winners Brazil and Argentina. It focuses on one of the most bizarre one-sided football matches of all time: between Chile and the Soviet Union in Santiago’s Estadio Nacional on 21 November 1973. The Soviets refused to turn up for the match, arguing that Chile’s new leader, General Augusto Pinochet, had recently used the Estadio Nacional to execute left-wing opponents. The game went ahead anyway, lasting all of seventeen seconds. Chile ‘won’ 2–0 and thereby, unlike the Soviet Union, qualified for the 1974 World Cup finals. The chapter shows how the ‘game of shame’ took place at a time when Chile, due to the recent death of Marxist president Salvador Allende, was briefly at the centre of the Cold War. It explores FIFA’s investigation into goings-on at the Estadio Nacional and the international row the match generated. The peculiar Chile–Soviet Union match shows how football could be used as a powerful tool of political protest during the Cold War. It also reveals how political grandstanding could sometimes hide something more mundane – the fear of losing on the pitch.

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  • The Game of Shame
  • Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire, Alan McDougall, University of Guelph, Ontario
  • Book: Cold War Football
  • Online publication: 11 June 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456098.007
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  • The Game of Shame
  • Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire, Alan McDougall, University of Guelph, Ontario
  • Book: Cold War Football
  • Online publication: 11 June 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456098.007
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Game of Shame
  • Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire, Alan McDougall, University of Guelph, Ontario
  • Book: Cold War Football
  • Online publication: 11 June 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456098.007
Available formats
×