• When the USA won the right to host the World Cup, Europe criticised FIFA

• The popular Major League Soccer was born two years after US hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994

• Among several memorable moments, Maradona was expelled from 1994 World Cup for drug abuse

Jayanta Oinam

On July 4, 1988, FIFA did the unthinkable by giving the United States the right to host the biggest football carnival, the 1994 World Cup. Reinvigoration, for whatever good reason, was the key. But it was also a global controversy. A country without the so-called top-tier league of its own would welcome the world's best! And 10 votes, that was all that the US needed to get the nod from the FIFA Executive Committee. Brazil, the eventual champions, were one of the finalists in the bidding process. Morocco, the other. Critics were ripping the verdict apart, with many in Europe comparing FIFA's decision to, now oft-quoted, "holding a major skiing competition in an African country." Then, the US was a football backwater, to say the least. The country has failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for close to four decades. But unbeknownst to many, it had already dawned on FIFA that the 15th installment of the World Cup would be a seminal event. If that's not the case, what's the business of giving rights to host the game's most prestigious event in a country which had killed its league, the North American Soccer League, in 1984? By the way, now popular Major League Soccer (MLS) came into being only after the FIFA World Cup, in 1996. Even though the country was already a FIFA member since 1913, the world's most popular game has a different name there, soccer; and it seemed to lack the appetite for football. Yes, Pele once plied his trade there, but things have turned for the worst. The US men's team had appeared only in the two previous FIFA World Cups, in 1930 and 1950. And their only other worthy participation was at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, a group stage exit in that too.

But maybe, giving the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the US was about something else. About growth, if not for the profit? America, then and still, is still the biggest market, and football, a new product then. Also, the country already had enough first-class stadiums, thanks to baseball and America's own football, the gridiron. Werner Fricker, the then United States Soccer Federation president, had said: "There is a strong desire by FIFA and most people to have the World Cup come to the United States. "A lot of people see the United States as a white spot on the map of soccer in the world… They (FIFA) would very much like to see development in soccer in the United States and to see it grow in a very big way." And indeed, it grew. The 1994 FIFA World Cup remains one of the most financially successful tournaments with a record-breaking attendance of 3,587,538 at an average of 68,991 per game. The tournament also witnessed many a first, which helped revolutionise the game. Did you know: - For the first time, three points were awarded for a win instead of two at the 1994 World Cup. - Players had their names printed on the back of their jerseys in a World Cup for the first time. - This was the last World Cup featuring 24 teams. It also witnessed the only goalless final. Brazil beat Italy on penalties to become the first team to win four World Cups. - Notoriously, Argentine great Diego Maradona tested positive for a banned substance and was expelled from the tournament. - Andres Escobar of Colombia scored an own goal, the only one in the tournament, against the US and he was shot dead by gangsters.