1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage 1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage The knockout stage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup was the second and final stage of the final tournament, following the group stage. It began on 23 June with the round of 16 matches, and ended on 8 July with the final match of the tournament held in Rome, in which West Germany beat the defending champions Argentina 1–0 to claim their third World Cup. Sixteen teams advanced to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination style tournament: The top two teams from each group plus the four best third-placed teams. In the
1990 FIFA World Cup qualification 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification The qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of African Football (CAF), CONCACAF (North America), CONMEBOL (South America), Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 24 places at the tournament. A total of 116 teams entered the competition, with Italy, as the host, and Argentina, as the holders, qualifying for the final tournament automatically. The first qualification match was played on 17 April 1988 and qualification