Obverse. Image Courtesy of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS.com)
  • 5 Pounds 1994, KM# 738, Egypt, 1994 Football (Soccer) World Cup in the United States
  • 5 Pounds 1994, KM# 738, Egypt, 1994 Football (Soccer) World Cup in the United States
Description

The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988. Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history. It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3,587,538 and an average of 68,991 per game, marks that stood unsurpassed as of 2018 despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the 1998 World Cup.

Brazil were crowned the winners after defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California near Los Angeles, after the game had ended 0–0 after extra time. It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. There were three new entrants in the tournament: Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia; Russia also appeared as a separate nation for the first time, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and for the first time since 1938, a unified Germany took part in the tournament. They were also defending champions, but were eliminated in quarter-finals by Bulgaria. It was the first World Cup where three points were awarded for a victory instead of two and also the first with the back-pass rule. This was done to encourage a more attacking style of soccer after the defensive tactics and low-scoring matches of the 1990 World Cup. This resulted in an average of 2.71 goals per match.

Obverse

Depicts a soccer player play double-kick action, inscription "Football World Cup" in Arabic above right and "WORLD CUP USA '94" in English below left.

بطولة العالم
لكرة القدم
WORLD CUP
USA '94
٥جنيهات

Reverse

Cartouche divides date in Arabic (Hijri) and (Georgian) above mirrored wings around the country name (Arab Republic of Egypt) and state name (Egypt) above wings. Inscription in English below.

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to the oval, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the feature did not come into common use until the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu. While the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, if it makes the name fit better it can be horizontal, with a vertical line at the end (in the direction of reading). The ancient Egyptian word for cartouche was shenu, and the cartouche was essentially an expanded shen ring. Demotic script reduced the cartouche to a pair of brackets and a vertical line.

١٤١٥ ـ ١٩٩٤
EGYPT
جمهورية مصر العربية
XV. FOOTBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Silver
Fineness 0.925
Weight 17.5 g
Diameter 37 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Cairo Mint

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