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Spain v Malta (1983)
	The Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville hosted the match
Event	UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying; Group 7; Matchday 8
	Spain qualified for UEFA Euro 1984
Date	21 December 1983
Venue	Estadio Benito Villamarín, Seville
Referee	Erkan Göksel (Turkey)
Attendance	18,871

On 21 December 1983, Spain played Malta in the last qualification match for UEFA Euro 1984. Needing a victory by no less than 11 goals to qualify, Spain won the match 12–1. The game is often described as one of the most important in the Spanish national team's history.^[1]

Background

With only the group winner getting a spot in the finals, the Netherlands had defeated Malta 5–0 four days before, and had finished their qualification schedule on top of the group with 13 points and a goal difference of +16.

By winning their final qualifier Spain would also finish on 13 points, and goal difference would decide the group winner. Spain's goal difference was +5 before the match; if it also reached +16, then the total number of goals scored by Spain would surpass that of the Netherlands, putting Spain ahead. Therefore, the team needed a win by a margin of 11 or more goals.

Spain had only managed to score 12 goals in their seven matches in the group until then. Before the game the Maltese goalkeeper John Bonello said: "I wouldn't return to my country if they scored 11 goals."^[2]

Going into the match, the Group 7 table stood as follows:

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	8	6	1	1	22	6	+16	13	Qualify for final tournament
2	Spain	7	5	1	1	12	7	+5	11
3	Republic of Ireland (E)	8	4	1	3	20	10	+10	9
4	Iceland (E)	8	1	1	6	3	13	−10	3
5	Malta (E)	7	1	0	6	4	25	−21	2

Updated to match(es) played on 17 December 1983. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

Match

Summary

Spain's only chance of qualifying for Euro 1984 was to defeat Malta by at least 11 goals. In the second minute of the match, Spain were awarded a penalty kick after a foul on Francisco José Carrasco inside the box. However, Juan Antonio Señor subsequently missed the penalty in the fourth minute after the shot deflected back off the left post and was cleared by a Maltese defender for a corner. After Santillana opened the scoring for Spain in the 15th minute, Malta's Michael Degiorgio levelled the score 1–1 in the 24th minute.^[3]^[4]

When half-time came and the scoreline was 3–1 to Spain, few expected them to score enough goals to qualify. However, Juan Antonio Señor, who had missed the early penalty, scored Spain's 12th and last goal in the 88th minute; Rafael Gordillo nearly scored a 13th in the final minutes of the game but it was disallowed by the referee. That did not matter, however, as the Spaniards won by the 11-goal margin required for them to beat the Netherlands to qualification.^[5]

Details

21 December 1983

20:15 CET

Spain	12–1	Malta
Santillana 15', 26', 28', 75' Rincón 46', 55', 63', 78' Maceda 60', 62' Sarabia 79' Señor 84'	Report	Degiorgio 24'

Estadio Benito Villamarín, Seville

Attendance: 18,871

Referee: Erkan Göksel (Turkey)

Spain

Malta


GK	1	Francisco Buyo
RB	2	Juan Antonio Señor
CB	4	Antonio Maceda	52'
CB	5	Andoni Goikoetxea
LB	3	José Antonio Camacho (c)
RM	7	Lobo Carrasco
CM	8	Víctor Muñoz
LM	6	Rafael Gordillo	25'
AM	10	Manuel Sarabia
CF	9	Santillana
CF	11	Hipólito Rincón		88'
Substitutions:
FW	16	Marcos Alonso		88'
Manager:
Miguel Muñoz


GK	1	John Bonello	50'
RB	3	Alex Azzopardi
CB	2	Emanuel Farrugia
CB	5	John Holland (c)
CB	6	Norman Buttigieg
LB	10	Emanuel Fabri	34'
CM	11	Michael Degiorgio	3' 76'
CM	9	Ernest Spiteri-Gonzi
CM	8	Ray Farrugia		70'
CF	4	Simon Tortell	23'
CF	7	Silvio Demanuele
Substitutions:
DF	14	Mario Farrugia		76'
Manager:
Victor Scerri

Assistant referees:
Yahya Diker (Turkey)
Özcan Oal (Turkey)

Match rules

90 minutes.
Maximum of two substitutions.

Timeline

Aftermath

The match was broadcast by Televisión Española in Spain. Afterwards, in Malta, many claimed ^{[citation needed]} that the Maltese were paid to not play their best and to let Spain win by a large margin, and it was rumoured that words had been exchanged between Maltese and Spanish officials and players at half-time. In March 2018, two Maltese players, Silvio Demanuele and Carmel Busuttil, claimed that Spain had been using doping as "they had foam in their mouths and could not stop drinking water". They also claim the Maltese players were drugged via lemon wedges during halftime.^[6] However, as of 2018, no evidence has come forth to support these allegations.^[7]

The Malta Football Association launched an inquiry into the result, and its chairman George Abela (later the President of Malta) brought about changes to the national team. Abela said that a lack of facilities meant that the team lacked serious professional preparation for a tournament such as the European Championships, and the closeness of away fixtures (Malta had played in the Netherlands only four days before their 12–1 loss in Seville) was a further hindrance and such scheduling would be avoided in future.

Final table

Spain and the Netherlands finished the qualification stage level on 13 points, level on goal difference, but Spain qualified on goals scored (24, compared to 22 for the Netherlands).

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	8	6	1	1	24	8	+16	13	Qualify for final tournament
2	Netherlands	8	6	1	1	22	6	+16	13
3	Republic of Ireland	8	4	1	3	20	10	+10	9
4	Iceland	8	1	1	6	3	13	−10	3
5	Malta	8	1	0	7	5	37	−32	2

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Records

The match produced the second-largest win in Spain's history (the largest was 13–0 against Bulgaria in 1933), and Malta's largest loss.
The four goals scored by Santillana put him as the top goalscorer in qualifying group 7.

References

^ "Los 50 mejores partidos de la historia: España 12-1 Malta Clasificación Euro 1984". Marca (in Spanish). 6 April 2020.
^ Olmedo, Álvaro (20 December 2008). "La intrahistoria de la gran hazaña". Marca (in Spanish). El meta de Malta, John Bonello, se retractaba de las declaraciones hechas días antes -"Si me meten once goles no vuelvo a mi país"- mientras la otra cara de la moneda, Holanda, se preguntaba cómo era posible. "Fue simplemente la segunda parte que habíamos soñado".
^ Murray, Scott (2 September 2011). "The Joy of Six: European Championship qualifiers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
^ "Colossal 12–1 win for Spain" (PDF). Times of Malta. Seville. 22 December 1983. Retrieved 23 January 2019. ^{[dead link‍]} Alt URL
^ "Spain's top newspaper recalls 12-1 victory over Malta 30 years ago today". Times of Malta. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
^ independent.com (March 20, 2018). "Watch: 1983 12-1 defeat against Spain - Maltese players say they were drugged".
^ Mattia Chiusano (June 20, 2004). "E la Spagna rifilò 12 reti a Malta". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 48.