Argentina at the FIFA World Cup playmaker position was instead filled by Mario Kempes, who ended up becoming the first Argentinian to win the Golden Ball in addition to being the tournament's top scorer with 6 goals. The Dutch side was missing a superstar of their own: Johann Cruyff did not join the 1978 World Cup squads due to the aftermath of a kidnapping attempt which occurred in 1977. He only disclosed this information 30 years later. The closely contested match was influenced by a hostile atmosphere and ended with the Dutch players refusing to attend the award ceremony after Argentina grabbed the title in extra
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) has been European that year (with except of 2017). Now that the World Cup takes place every two years, so will the qualifiers, starting with the qualifiers for the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. For all tournaments, the top four teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, except for 2009, where the fifth-placed team also qualified. As 2017 Note: Win in Common Time W = 3 Points / Win in Extra Time WE = 2 Points / Win in Penalty shoot-out WP = 1 Point / Lose L = 0 Points The following is a performance timeline