Editing 1974 FIFA World Cup (section)

===Final===
{{main|1974 FIFA World Cup Final}}

The final was held on 7 July 1974 at Olympiastadion, Munich. West Germany was led by [[Franz Beckenbauer]], while the Dutch had their star [[Johan Cruyff]], and their Total Football system which had dazzled the competition. With just a minute gone on the clock, following a solo run, Cruyff was brought down by [[Uli Hoeneß]] inside the German penalty area, and the Dutch took the lead from the ensuing penalty by [[Johan Neeskens]] before any German player had even touched the ball. West Germany struggled to recover, and in the 26th minute were awarded a penalty, after [[Bernd Hölzenbein]] fell within the Dutch area, causing [[English people|English]] referee [[Jack Taylor (referee)|Jack Taylor]] to award another controversial penalty. [[Paul Breitner]] spontaneously decided to kick, and scored. These two penalties were the first in a World Cup final. West Germany now pushed, and in the 43rd minute, in his typical style, [[Gerd Müller]] scored what turned out to be the winning goal, and the last of his career as he retired from the national team. The second half saw chances for both sides, with Müller putting the ball in the net for a goal that was disallowed as offside. In the 85th, Hölzenbein was fouled again, but no penalty this time. Eventually, West Germany, European Champions of 1972, also won the 1974 World Cup.

This was the only case of the reigning European champions winning the World Cup, until Spain (champions of the [[UEFA Euro 2008]]) defeated the Netherlands in the South Africa [[2010 FIFA World Cup]] Final. France have also held both trophies, albeit in a different order, at the same time by winning the 1998 World Cup followed by Euro 2000.

[[Joao Havelange]] (former FIFA President from 1974 to 1998) claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1966-1974-world-cups-were-fixed-former-fifa-president/blt6e01f417661567f1 |title=1966 & 1974 World Cups Were Fixed – Former FIFA President |publisher=Goal.com |date=26 June 2008 |access-date=28 October 2011}}</ref>

This was only the second time that a team had won the World Cup after losing a match in the Finals (West Germany losing to East Germany during the group stage). The previous occasion was West Germany's earlier win in 1954.

Poland's [[Grzegorz Lato]] led the tournament in scoring seven goals. [[Gerd Müller]]'s goal in the final was the 14th in his career of two World Cups, beating [[Just Fontaine]]'s record of 13, in his single World Cup. Müller's record was only surpassed 32 years later, in 2006 by [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]]'s 15 goals from three World Cups and then 8 years after, in 2014 by [[Miroslav Klose|Klose]]'s 16 goals from four World Cups.

[[Günter Netzer]], who came on as a substitute for West Germany during the defeat by the East Germans, was playing for [[Real Madrid]] at the time: this was the first time that a World Cup winner had played for a club outside his home country.

This is the last of four [[FIFA World Cup]] tournaments to date with no [[Overtime (sports)|extra-time]] matches. The others are the [[1930 FIFA World Cup|1930]], [[1950 FIFA World Cup|1950]], and [[1962 FIFA World Cup|1962]] tournaments.