With football (or soccer) fans the world over glued to TV screens watching the World Cup in South Africa these days I thought it might be nice to take a look at a vintage 1990 FIFA World Cup postcard – the year that Italy hosted the 14th edition of the championship. Italy currently holds the title at the time of writing this post, but in 1990 they finished third, ahead of England in fourth place, with Germany beating Argentina for the title in the final.
This uncirculated souvenir postcard was issued by the publishers R.A.I.I. and is, curiously, printed on self-adhesive paper. It features the legs of an Italian player with distinctive blue socks – the team is nicknamed Gli Azzurri in Italian after the blue colour of their kit!
The 1990 World Cup is one that I seem to remember particularly well. I was still living in the UK in those days and watched the coverage of the championship on the BBC. The opening title sequence they used at the beginning of Italia '90 World Cup coverage featured Luciano Pavarotti's performance of 'Nessun Dorma' from Puccini's final opera 'Turandot', which turned Italy's Big Luciano from an opera star into a pop star overnight and brought the previously somewhat elitist world of opera to a wider audience. The track was even a hit in the UK singles chart at the time!
Watch the opening sequence from the BBC again below or click here to watch it on YouTube.
Find more vintage postcards over at Beth's postcard blog The Best Hearts are Crunchy and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday.
Comments
Happy PFF!
Karena
Art by Karena