What are your earliest World Cup memories.

[Josephus]

I know I'm one of the oldest people here (I'm turning 60 in less than two weeks  ). but I'm sure many of you, particularly the Europeans among us, have been following the World Cup as long as they can remember. And how long do you remember?

I was born a month before England won the World Cup, and don't remember any of that. I'm sure I would have watched some of the World Cup 1970 but I was 4, and remember nothing.

But I do remember the 74 world cup in West and East Germany. Tip and Tap were the mascots. I would have just turned 8. At this point, although school was out for the summer, I would have had several neighbourhood friends and we would have talked about it, probably parroting our fathers. For instance, I remember the first game Brazil V. Yugoslavia. The word in the playground as we kicked around our black and white balls, was that Brazil would not do well, as it was the first world cup in a decade that Pele would not be playing. But MY DAD said that they still had Rivellino and Jarizinho. That game, disappointingly (and perhaps a portent of many WC games to come) finished in a 0-0 draw.

I do remember Italy hammering Haiti 5-1 and my introduction to Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff. And i remember quite well the final with West Germany beating Holland 2-1 and loving the name Beckenbauer.

And yours?

[Maladict]

1990 would be the first, I was 11 at the time. We didn't qualify in 1986 which is probably why I have no memory of it. But the big one of course is Euro '88, I remember every bit of it.

[celedhring]

Obviously Spain 1982.

I was still 4 at the time, which is the youngest time I have "solid" memories of, but it was a huge event that people of my generation still have some nostalgia of (the mascot "Naranjito" is an icon of 1980s Spain).

I remember watching the opening on the telly. My parents also had tickets for a game at Camp Nou, and they dropped my and my brother at my grandma's.

[Grey Fox]

The Final of '94. I was staying at my cousins at the time and they were big soccer fans, a rare thing back then.
I don't remember details of the game tho.

It's actually my 2nd sports memory, the first one being the Habs Stanley Cup victory a year earlier.

[Syt]

The first one I really remember was the 1986 one in Mexico when I was 9, going on 10. (and before that the Euro in France '84, which was also my first Panini sticker album). The matches were at night, so my parents didn't let me watch them due to school.

But I did watch the half hour morning summaries on German TV before school, and I think they re-ran the German half final and final in the afternoon.

For Euro '88 in Germany I kept a match diary - for each match I wrote down the location, team line ups, notable match events (cards, goals, substitutions) etc. while watching. I tried again for Italy '90 but even at the time it was too much to keep up with for me, i.e. struggling to catch every match live.

[HVC]

94 was the first one I remember. Although my most distinct memory was that my school had a poster on the wall with stickers put on by the kids with the flags of who they were cheering for.

[Sheilbh]

I have very faint memories of Charlton's Ireland in the USA.

And then more technicolour memories of the 1998 England team.

[celedhring]

Incidentally, today I was visiting my parents, who obviously still keep all our stuff from when we were children, and I checked my first WC sticker album. It was Mexico 86.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

some faint stuff of '86 (which was a good year for the belgian team). First one I really remember is 1990

[Norgy]

1982 and Brazil-Italy and France-West Germany. I watched with my dad and my uncle, which obviously coloured my perspective. I still think Paolo Rossi is a bastard for sinking beautiful Brazil and I think Toni Schumacher still should be in prison for his attempted murder of Patrick Battiston. 

Of course, the French lost on penalties to the super-efficient West Germans, bringing about a final no-one in my family watched.

The WC I have most vivid memories of is 1986 in Mexico (should've been in Colombia, but moved because of an earthquake). Every day was football, football outdoors with friends and neighbours in the daytime, then one match on the state broadcaster.

Had the full Panini album, and it was Diego all the way. And the Danes, until they were utterly destroyed by Real Madrid's vulture Emilio Butragueno. Yes, those days, having derogatory terms for players from Southern Europe was perfectly normal. Not Brazilians or Argentinians, though. Zico and Diego, and to some extent, Socrates, were all revered as demi-gods.
I think it is one of the World Cups Norwegians were rather "Meh" towards the English, which would normally have been the team most supported apart from Denmark.

1990 was a bit of a yawn outside of some Dutch-German love and spitting, Cameroon and a resurgent England. It was also Yugoslavia's swansong on the international stage. They were perennial outsiders, with some fantastically gifted players every generation. Yugoslavia qualified and were favourites for the 1992 EC in Sweden, but had to withdraw as even UEFA found having a country in the middle of a civil war participating a tad problematic.

[Zanza]

I faintly remember the 1990s would cup. Vividly remember since 1992 EC all the way up to the 2014 WC.

I haven't watched since Russia 2018, with the exception of the EC in Germany, and will not watch the Trump show this year either.

[Valmy]

I remember watching the 1986 Final between Argentina and West Germany in Spanish on Univision, I think, because it otherwise wasn't being broadcast in the United States.

This might be a false memory. I remember having to watch some of the world cup in Spanish and I remember watching Argentina celebrate. Those might be different matches during the 1986 world cup though. I was 9 years old so my memory is a little hazy. That was definitely the first time I remember watching it though.

There was no US in that WC so me and my Dad were cheering for Mexico at the time, something I would never do now but this was back before there was this big rivalry between Mexico and the US in soccer. Or if there was I was not aware of it.

[Duque de Bragança]

First World Cup memories Mexico '86. I remember, among other moments, the final between Argentina and (West) Germany. I would still recognise the TV set brand and model I watched it on.   
Plus vague memories of all the Saltillo drama involving the Selecção. Replaced now by the knowledge gained from hindsight.
Vague recollections of technical issues during broadcasts.

First tournament I really followed well was EC '88.
Very vague, possibly false memories of the Euro 1984.

Then, for WCs, Italia '90, of course.

[Josquius]

Only really 94. I remember a lot of the opening ceremony and how much of a big deal it was.
Oh and the qualifiers and San Marino scoring a goal which meant England only won 11-1 or something do didn't qualify.
I was irish that world cup.

I did have a mega drive game of Italia 90 I'd been playing before hand a lot. I remember not knowing geography at all and the country select screen being a map.