A total of 39 (not counted Iceland, Bolivia, Cuba, Costa Rica, State of Vietnam and India) teams entered the 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Switzerland, as the hosts, and Uruguay, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
The remaining 37 teams were divided into 13 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows: Groups 1 to 10 – Europe and the Near East: 11 places contested by 27 teams (including Egypt and Israel). Groups 11 and 12 – The Americas: 2 places contested by 7 teams. Group 13 – Asia: 1 place contested by 3 teams.
Rejected: Iceland, Bolivia, Cuba, Costa Rica, State of Vietnam and India
Withdrawals: Poland, Republic of China, Peru
From the remaining 34 teams, 1 qualified without playing any qualifying match: Hungary
A total of 33 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 57 qualifying matches were played, and 208 goals were scored (an average of 3.65 per match).
Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.
Groups The 13 groups had different rules, as follows: Groups 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, and 10 had 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. Groups 5, 6 and 9 had 2 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. Group 3 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other once, either home or away. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. Group 11 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify. Group 12 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice. The group winner would qualify. Group 13 had 3 teams. After Republic of China withdrew before the matches began, the remaining 2 teams played each other twice. The group winner would qualify.
Group 1
Pos.TeamQualification14310123+97Final Tournament2411248−433402249−52
West Germany qualified.
Group 2
Pos.TeamQualification14310116+57Final Tournament2411298+1334022713−62
Belgium qualified. This was the first time Sweden failed to qualify.
Group 3
This group was also the 1953–54 British Home Championship.
Pos.TeamQualification13300114+76Final Tournament231118803Final Tournament3310247−324301259−41
England and Scotland qualified.
Group 4
Pos.TeamQualification14400204+168Final Tournament2420286+2434004119−180
France qualified.
Group 5
Pos.TeamQualification1211091+83Final Tournament2201119−81
Austria qualified.
Group 6
Pos.TeamQualification1210142+22210124−22Final Tournament
Spain and Turkey finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.
Luigi Franco Gemma, a 14-year-old Italian boy whose father worked at the stadium, picked Turkey's name from the lots with his eyes blindfolded. Therefore, Turkey qualified. This was the first time Spain failed to qualify for the final tournament.
Group 7
Since FIFA rejected the entry of and withdrew, the Group was scratched and qualified automatically. This was the last time any country qualified for the World Cup automatically since FIFA subsequently introduced regulations to stipulate that no country other than the hosts (and until 2002, the defending champions) could qualify without playing at least one game.
Group 8
Pos.TeamQualification1431051+47Final Tournament2420255043401337−41
Czechoslovakia qualified. This was the first time Romania failed to qualify.
Group 9
Pos.TeamQualification1220072+54Final Tournament2200227−50
Italy qualified.
Group 10
Pos.TeamQualification1440040+48Final Tournament2420232+143400405−50
Yugoslavia qualified.
Group 11
FIFA rejected the entry of .
Pos.TeamQualification1440081+78Final Tournament2420286+2434004110−90—Withdrew
Brazil qualified. This was the first time they had to play qualifying matches.
Group 12
FIFA rejected the entries of and . The United States played all their games away from home.
Pos.TeamQualification14400191+188Final Tournament2420279−2434004218−160
Mexico qualified.
Group 13
FIFA rejected the entries of and the . Both games were played in Japan.
Pos.TeamQualification1211073+43Final Tournament2201137−41Withdrew
South Korea qualified.
Qualified teams
TeamDate of qualificationFinals appearanceStreakLast appearance29 November 19533rd119388 October 1953 4th1193821 March 1954 5th5195025 October 1953 3rd1193811 November 19532nd2195025 November 19534th11938 (w)3rd1193824 January 19544th4195014 March 19541st1—14 January 19543rd2195031 March 19541st1— (h)22 July 19464th4195017 March 19541st1— (c)16 July 19503rd2195028 March 19543rd1193828 March 19543rd21950
(h) – qualified automatically as hosts
(c) – qualified automatically as defending champions
(w) – qualified automatically because Poland withdrew
Goalscorers
6 goals
Max Morlock
5 goals
Erich Probst Baltazar Tomás Balcázar
4 goals
Henri Coppens José Luis Lamadrid Nils-Åke Sandell Bill Looby
3 goals
František Vlk Nat Lofthouse Kalevi Lehtovirta Just Fontaine Pedro Arnauda Manuel Lugo Choi Chung-min Chung Nam-sik John Charles
2 goals
Léopold Anoul Mathieu Bollen Júlio Botelho Harold Hassall Dennis Wilshaw Olavi Lahtinen Jean Desgranges Pierre Flamion Léon Glovacki Roger Piantoni Joseph Ujlaki Jean Vincent Gerard Ellie Arthur Fitzsimons Reg Ryan Giampiero Boniperti Amleto Frignani Toshio Iwatani Alfredo Torres Peter McParland José Parodi József Pecsovszky Allan Brown Charlie Fleming Burhan Sargın Ivor Allchurch Fritz Walter
1 goal
Robert Dienst Ernst Happel Ernst Ocwirk Theodor Wagner Victor Lemberechts Victor Mees Jean-Louis Straetmans Maurinho Stefan Bozhkov Ivan Kolev Dobromir Tashkov Ted Robledo Emil Pažický František Šafránek Ad-Diba Alaa El-Hamouly Ronnie Allen Ivor Broadis Jimmy Mullen Johnny Nicholls Nils Rikberg Jorma Vaihela Raymond Cicci Jacques Foix Édouard Kargu Raymond Kopa Armand Penverne Thanasis Bembis Georgios Kamaras Dimitris Kokkinakis George Cummins Tommy Eglington Frank O'Farrell Davy Walsh Ermes Muccinelli Egisto Pandolfini Eduardo Ricagni Ken Naganuma Antoine Kohn Rafael Ávalos Gregorio Gómez José Naranjo Nicolás Tellez Norman Lockhart Eddie McMorran Knut Dahlen Harald Hennum Hans Nordahl Gunnar Thoresen Ireneo Hermosilla Eulogio Martínez Silvio Parodi José Águas Valeriu Călinoiu Alexandru Ene Gavril Serfözö Herbert Binkert Herbert Martin Werner Otto Gerhard Siedl Jackie Henderson Bobby Johnstone Willie Ormond Lawrence Reilly Choi Kwang-suk Rafael Alsua José Artetxe Adrián Escudero Agustín Gaínza Miguel González Venancio García Bengt Berndtsson Hans Persson Gösta Sandberg Herbert Sandin Arne Selmosson Recep Adanır Suat Mamat Cornelius Casey Efrain Chacurian Ruben Mendoza Helmut Rahn Horst Schade Hans Schäfer Ottmar Walter Frane Matošić Miloš Milutinović Todor Veselinović Branko Zebec
1 own goal
William Scheppel (playing against Mexico)
Notes Turkey qualified via the drawing of lots, after they and Spain finished level on points in Group 6 and a drawn play-off match in Rome. For the first time, qualification matches were actually played in South America; in the four previous World Cups, the South American teams qualified automatically through withdrawals (in the case of 1934) or through the South American Football Championship (for the 1938 and 1950 tournaments), while there was no qualifying process in 1930. Argentina did not take part in the qualification process. As the French-occupied Saarland protectorate did not become part of Germany until 1957, the Saarland national team entered their only World Cup competition and actually had to play Germany in the qualifiers. The entries of Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Iceland, India, and South Vietnam were rejected by FIFA because they were submitted after the official deadline had passed. After being banned from the 1950 tournament following the Second World War, Germany and Japan were both allowed to play again. West Germany qualified and became champions after defeating Hungary with a score of 3–2 in the final that became known as the Miracle of Bern.
References
External links FIFA World Cup Official Site – 1954 World Cup Qualification RSSSF – 1954 World Cup Qualification