1954 FIFA World Cup qualification

1954 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Tournament details
Teams	39 (from 3 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	57
Goals scored	208 (3.65 per match)

A total of 39 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 32 teams (including Egypt, Israel and Syria).
• 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, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 had 3 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 Taiwan withdrew before the matches began, the remaining 2 teams played against each other twice. The group winner would qualify.

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	West Germany	7	4	3	1	0	12	3	+9
2	Saar	3	4	1	1	2	4	8	−4
3	Norway	2	4	0	2	2	4	9	−5

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West Germany qualified.

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Belgium	7	4	3	1	0	11	6	+5
2	Sweden	3	4	1	1	2	9	8	+1
3	Finland	2	4	0	2	2	7	13	−6

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Belgium qualified.

Group 3

This group was also the 1953-1954 British Home Championship.

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	England	6	3	3	0	0	11	4	+7
2	Scotland	3	3	1	1	1	8	8	0
3	Northern Ireland	2	3	1	0	2	4	7	−3
4	Wales	1	3	0	1	2	5	9	−4

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England and Scotland qualified.

Group 4

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	France	8	4	4	0	0	20	4	+16
2	Republic of Ireland	4	4	2	0	2	8	6	+2
3	Luxembourg	0	4	0	0	4	1	19	−18

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France qualified.

Group 5

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Austria	3	2	1	1	0	9	1	+8
2	Portugal	1	2	0	1	1	1	9	−8
—	Denmark	withdrew

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Austria qualified.

Group 6

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1=	Spain	2	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2
1=	Turkey	2	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2
—	Netherlands	Withdrew

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Spain and Turkey finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

Turkey qualified after drawing lots. Since the 1970 FIFA World Cup finals, goal difference was used as a tiebreaker for future qualifying rounds. Had those rules been in place, Spain would have qualified, and Turkey would have been eliminated. A 14-year-old local (i.e. Roman) boy whose father worked at the stadium, Luigi Franco Gemma, picked Turkey's name from the lots with his eyes blindfolded.^[1][2]

Group 7

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Hungary	qualified
—	Poland	withdrew

Poland withdrew, so Hungary qualified automatically.

Group 8

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Czechoslovakia	7	4	3	1	0	5	1	+4
2	Romania	4	4	2	0	2	5	5	0
3	Bulgaria	1	4	0	1	3	3	7	−4

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Czechoslovakia qualified.

Group 9

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Italy	4	2	2	0	0	7	2	+5
2	Egypt	0	2	0	0	2	2	7	−5

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Italy qualified.

Group 10

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Yugoslavia	8	4	4	0	0	4	0	+4
2	Greece	4	4	2	0	2	3	2	+1
3	Israel	0	4	0	0	4	0	5	−5

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Yugoslavia qualified.

Group 11

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Brazil	8	4	4	0	0	8	1	+7
2	Paraguay	4	4	2	0	2	8	6	+2
3	Chile	0	4	0	0	4	1	10	−9
—	Peru	Withdrew

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Brazil qualified.

Group 12

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Mexico	8	4	4	0	0	19	1	+18
2	United States	4	4	2	0	2	7	9	−2
3	Haiti	0	4	0	0	4	2	18	−16

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Mexico qualified.

Group 13

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	South Korea	3	2	1	1	0	7	3	+4
2	Japan	1	2	0	1	1	3	7	−4
—	Republic of China	withdrew

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Korea Republic qualified.

Qualified teams

Team	Finals Appearance	Streak	Last Appearance
Austria	2nd	1	1934
Belgium	4th	1	1938
Brazil	5th	5	1950
Czechoslovakia	3rd	1	1938
England	2nd	2	1950
France	4th	1	1938
Hungary	3rd	1	1938
Italy	4th	4	1950
South Korea	1st	1	–
Mexico	3rd	2	1950
Scotland	1st	1	–
Switzerland (h)	4th	4	1950
Turkey	1st	1	–
Uruguay (c)	3rd	2	1950
West Germany	3rd	1	1938
Yugoslavia	3rd	2	1950

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

• Turkey gained a place in the World Cup through drawing lots, over Spain after failing to decide which team was the winner of Group 6 after three matches. However, it was not the only one. Morocco eliminated Tunisia during qualification for the 1962 FIFA World Cup by drawing lots, and eliminated Tunisia again on a coin toss during 1970 World Cup qualification. They also eliminated Tunisia during qualification for the 1968 Olympics either by drawing lots or a coin toss. In 1978, Tunisia defeated Morocco during World Cup qualification on penalties, in the first time penalties were ever used during World Cup qualification.^[1]
• For the first time, qualification matches were actually played in South America, since in all previous World Cups, the South American teams all qualified automatically due to withdrawals (in the case of 1934) or through the South American Football Championship for the 1938 and 1950 tournaments.
• As the French-occupied Saarland protectorate became part of the Federal Republic of Germany only in 1957, the Saarland 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 not accepted by the FIFA.^[3]

References

External links

• FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1954 World Cup Qualification
• RSSSF - 1954 World Cup Qualification

FIFA World Cup Tournaments Uruguay 1930 Italy 1934 France 1938 Brazil 1950 Switzerland 1954 Sweden 1958 Chile 1962 England 1966 Mexico 1970 West Germany 1974 Argentina 1978 Spain 1982 Mexico 1986 Italy 1990 United States 1994 France 1998 South Korea/Japan 2002 Germany 2006 South Africa 2010 Brazil 2014 Russia 2018 Qatar 2022 2026 Finals 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Qualification 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Squads 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Seedings 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Broadcasters 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Bids 2014 2018 and 2022 2026 2030 Statistics All-time table Goalscorers top goalscorers finals goalscorers hat-tricks own goals Penalty shoot-outs Player appearances Records Red cards Referees Team appearances Teams with no appearances Miscellaneous Awards Balls Economics History Hosts Mascots Official films Official songs Trophy Video games Notes: There was no qualification for the 1930 World Cup as places were given by invitation only. In 1950, there was no final; the article is about the decisive match of the final group stage.