Saltillo Affair

The Saltillo Affair (Portuguese: O Caso Saltilho) was a series of controversies surrounding the Portugal national football team during its participation in the Mexico 1986 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coahuila, in which the team was headquartered for the competition, and also the place where the majority of the described events occurred. The team had qualified for only one previous World Cup tournament, in 1966, in which it finished third. Following a difficult qualification, the 1986 campaign did not start well with the suspicion of doping falling on one of the players who had been selected for the tournament. Although that test was later proven wrong, that was the first of many controversies to affect the team in the following weeks, including threats of strikes from the players, the announcement of a series of demands to the Portuguese Federation and reports of inappropriate behaviour at the team's headquarters. The Saltillo Affair remains a significant controversy in the history of Portuguese football.