"THE GHOST MATCH"

In the 1973 Football match, during the intercontinental play-offs for the 1974 FIFA World Cup (with the deciding match taking place in November 1973), The USSR refused to play its match against Chile in the Santiago's Estadio Nacional Stadium.

REASON: The stadium was used as a concentration camp/detention center, using the locker rooms, tunnels, and stands to detain, torture, and execute thousands of citizens, during the brutal Chilean military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
The USSR appealed to FIFA to move the match to a neutral country, stating that Soviet sportsmen could not, on moral grounds, perform in a venue "stained with the blood of the patriots of the people of Chile."

FIFA sent a delegation to inspect the Estadio Nacional. The inspection turned into a dark farce. To hide what was happening, the Chilean military hid thousands of political prisoners below deck in the locker rooms and inner tunnels, keeping them at gunpoint to ensure absolute silence while the inspectors walked the pitch.

FIFA refused to shift the venue calling the situation and the stadium "normal". Even though FIFA knew the Soviet team would not show up, they insisted the match proceed as scheduled on November 21, 1973, to fulfill broadcasting requirements and formalize the walkover.

USSR did not take the field, in fact they did not even board the plane from Moscow, Chile players played around with each other for some time, in front of 15,000 home crowd, scored a goal without any goalkeeper and won the match.



TOTAL MATCH TIME: 17 Seconds.

Because there was no opposing team to restart the game from the center circle, the match was immediately called off. FIFA officially awarded Chile a 2-0 walkover victory, disqualifying the USSR and sending Chile to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.

Since only one "goal" was scored, why was it given 2-0 instead of 1-0?

According to standard FIFA regulatory rules for a forfeited match or a walkover, the default scoreline awarded to the winning team is 2-0 (or 3-0 in modern regulations).

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