The best World Cup posters ever made

World Cup posters used to be synonymous with the event, a type of propaganda which was affixed in every main square and printed in every newspaper. Now the main avenues of publicity revolve mainly around twitter, so much so that the official tournament ball has it’s own twitter account for the 2014 World Cup tournament.

Let’s return to a simpler time when posters made statements about not only the game but reflected the mood and intentions of the nation. We’ve picked out some of our favourites from yesteryear.If you’re a real football historian, you can print any of these via instantprint.co.uk and hang them on the wall.

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West Germany 1974

It looks relatively innocuous but West Germany was the first host nation to use multiple languages on their poster, maybe a hint towards a desire to be perceived as internationally friendly during a difficult time domestically. The pastel painting of a footballer is striking and looks like something that wouldn’t make it past the first round of any competition initially but it’s oddly enduring.

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Spain – 1982

Spain so blatantly ripped off some of their greatest artists with this poster that it’s almost comical, yet somehow it works.

Italy 1934

A real classic, Italy made it very clear that their players are the main event with this glorious drawing. Interesting choice of flags in the background too.

Brazil 1950

The greatest ever, no doubt. Encompassing everything that football stands for in a very bold, easy to digest poster. Quite literally, it reads down the page: World, Foot, Ball. Masterpiece.

I’m @brazuca, match ball of the 2014 FIFA #WorldCup. Yes I’m a ball. Yes I’m tweeting. Join me on my journey! #ballin pic.twitter.com/KerKWgFdez

— brazuca (@brazuca) December 3, 2013