1954 FIFA World Cup qualification

1954 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 37 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.
37 teams were divided into 13 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows:
Groups 1 to 10 – Europe: 11 places, contested by 27 teams (including Egypt and Israel).
Group 11 and 12 – The Americas: 2 places, contested by 7 teams.
Group 13 – Asia: 1 place, contested by 3 teams.
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. 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 against each other twice. The group winner would qualify.
Group 1
West Germany qualified.
Group 2
Belgium qualified.
This was the first time Sweden failed to qualify.
Group 3
This group was also the 1953–54 British Home Championship.
England and Scotland qualified.
Group 4
France qualified.
Group 5
Austria qualified.
Group 6
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. Since the 1970 FIFA World Cup finals, goal difference has been used as a tiebreaker for future qualifying rounds. Had those rules been in place, Spain would have qualified, and Turkey would have been eliminated. This is the first time Spain failed to qualify.
Therefore, Turkey qualified. This was the only time winner of aggregate score failed to qualify.
Group 7
Poland withdrew and Iceland had their entry rejected so Hungary qualified automatically.
Group 8
Czechoslovakia qualified. This was the first time Romania failed to qualify.
Group 9
Italy qualified.
Group 10
Yugoslavia qualified.
Group 11
Brazil qualified. Despite having participated in every World Cup, this was the first time they played qualifying matches.
Group 12
Mexico qualified.
Group 13
South Korea qualified.
Qualified teams
(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 due to 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.
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
Football World Cup
FIFA World Cup qualification