The Battle of Santiago 1962: The Most Violent World Cup Match Ever Played

The ‘Battle of Santiago 1962' goes down in history as the most violent World Cup match ever played to date, and in this article, we will provide you with all the details of what happened in that famous clash.

Two red cards were dished out, while police had to intervene on more than three separate occasions as extreme violence broke out between the opposition players of Chile and Italy.

English referee Ken Aston was tasked with trying to keep the peace on the pitch, and was later credited with the invention of yellow and red cards, as we detail what led to such violence on the field of play…

Chile 1960 – The worst earthquake ever recorded

In 1960, Chile suffered the worst earthquake ever recorded – not ideal if you are preparing to host your first World Cup tournament.

This obviously put some major hurdles in the way of being ready by the time the 1962 event was scheduled to be played.

And through no fault of their own, Chile became the target of many major media channels from countries that were due to participate.

Simply put, many nations did not want Chile to remain as the host after this event.

Not only that, but Chile’s own government did not want to continue with the plans of hosting the tournament, as they were still recovering from this disaster.

Regardless, the powers that be in Chile were determined to go ahead with the original plans to host the tournament, and they did.

With that said, word got around to the Chilean natives that other nations did not want Chile to host the tournament.

And to say that this angered the locals would be somewhat of an understatement.

So before the tournament even started, Chile felt like the world was against them, and this set the stage for one of the most violent World Cup tournaments ever.

But there was one game that ranked above all others in terms of violence, disruption, and at times, sheer madness.

Chile hosting the World Cup ‘pure madness'

The Chile vs Italy group game was the second match played in group two, and little did anyone know what this game would turn into.

To understand what caused the tensions for this game, we must refer back to the global press relating to the tournament as a whole.

Italy were one of those nations to state that it was ‘pure madness' that Chile were to host the tournament as detailed in multiple newspapers.

Other newspapers in Chile discovered these articles and then magnified them in their own papers to stir up the locals even more.

Of course, this created massive tension between the two teams before the game even started.

Italian journalists continued to insult the standard of Santiago City, and Chile as a whole.

Through a series of demeaning descriptions about various aspects of Santiago, Italy suddenly developed into public enemy number one.

And this was certainly the case from the perspective of the Chilean players.

However, it is not like the Chilean media was too kind in response either before we make this seem too one-sided.

Local papers described the Italian team and nation as ‘mafiosos’ and fascists, which sprung from the days of World War II.

So naturally, the game involving these two nations was never going to be played in good spirits. 

‘Battle of Santiago 1962' key incidents

First foul after 12 seconds

The first foul was committed just 12 seconds into the game, and the saying ‘start, as you mean to go on’ was never more appropriate.

The match got filthier and filthier with each passing minute, and the poor English referee, Ken Aston, was fighting a losing battle. 

And while the first foul came just seconds into the match, the severity of this foul was moderate compared to what was about to unfold. 

Chileans spitting at Italians

According to many first-hand accounts from the game, the Chilean players were spitting at the Italians from the very start.

In fact, some reports even state that they were spitting at the Italians in the tunnel on the way out to the pitch, although this has not been confirmed.

Despite the spitting, there were not any sending-offs or cautions for such behaviour, and things were about to get much worse.

Giorgi Ferrini red card for Italy

When the game entered the eighth minute, the Italian player, Giorgi Ferrini, received a red card from the referee.

Ferrini did not agree with the referee's decision, and as it happens, he refused to leave the pitch!

This fiasco continued for around 10 minutes of Ferrini arguing with the referee, and the Italian players were naturally protesting against the decision too.

But when things started to get out of control, the police actually came onto the pitch and physically escorted Ferrini off it.

Of course, this was unprecedented in the World Cup, and it was even crazier that this happened just eight minutes into the game.

Yet this did provide an indicator as to the perceived ‘bias’ of the referee in favour of Chile. 

Leonel Sanchez broke Humberto Maschio's nose

Throughout the game, the players actually got involved in physical fights, with many punches being thrown.

The worst of them all was when the Chilean, Leonel Sanchez punched Humberto Maschio in the nose.

He actually broke Maschio’s nose with this punch, yet the referee did not even serve up a caution to Sanchez.

After the game, he claimed that he did not see the punch, but many question whether this was true to this day.

This was not the first punch thrown by Sanchez in the game.

He had already punched Mario David earlier in the match, which led to another major incident in the game.

Mario David red card after Leonel Sanchez punch

It is clear that Leonel Sanchez did not plan on playing what we would call traditional football on that day.

Mario David retaliated for Leonel Sanchez's punch just a couple of minutes after the incident, the referee sent him off.

He tried to kick Sanchez in the head, which is obviously far beyond what anyone would deem acceptable in a game of football.

But once again, Sanchez received no punishment for his actions whatsoever, which is what infuriated the Italians, understandably.

This would turn out to be a common theme of the game too, where Aston did nothing major to stop the Chileans from making the game so dirty.

He would be heavily criticized for years to come because of the incidents on this day.

More police intervention after Giorgi Ferrini red card

Police would enter the field three more times in total, mainly to serve as a deterrent to the growing violence from both teams.

However, it was only Ferrini who was physically escorted away from the pitch.

Amazingly, the police who took him away were armed as well, so we can only imagine what Ferrini was thinking as he was taken away.