June 1978, Córdoba

In the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Austria beat Germany 3–2. Known in Austria as the ‘Miracle of Córdoba’, it was perceived as the Austrian football team’s greatest achievement since the winning streak of the ‘Wunderteam’ of the 1930s. While the win was too late to keep Austria in the tournament, it knocked their rivals out of the competition. But although the country celebrated the squad as national heroes, hardly anyone talked about the fact that the host nation had been a violent military dictatorship since 1976 and that the regime had tortured and murdered thousands of people. It was not until 1983 that democracy was restored in Argentina.