1954 FIFA World Cup qualification

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A total of 45 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.

FIFA rejected the entries of Iceland, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, South Vietnam and India. The remaining 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 - South America: 1 place, contested by 4 teams.
Group 12 - North, Central America and Caribbean: 1 place, contested by 3 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.

1 Groups
2 Qualified teams
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Groups

The 13 groups had different rules, as follows:

Groups 1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 had 3 teams each. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 3 had 4 teams. The teams would play against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
Groups 5, 6, 7 and 9 had 2 teams each. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 11 had 4 teams. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.
Group 12 had 3 teams. The teams would play 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 would play against each other twice. The group winner would qualify.

[edit] Group 1

June 24, 1953, Oslo, Norway - Norway 2 - 3 Saar

August 19, 1953, Oslo, Norway - Norway 1 - 1 West Germany

October 11, 1953, Stuttgart, West Germany - West Germany 3 - 0 Saar

November 8, 1953, Saarbrücken, Saar - Saar 0 - 0 Norway

November 22, 1953, Hamburg, West Germany - West Germany 5 - 1 Norway

March 28, 1954, Saarbrücken, Saar - Saar 1 - 3 West Germany

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

West Germany qualified.

[edit] Group 2

May 25, 1953, Helsinki, Finland - Finland 2 - 4 Belgium

May 28, 1953, Stockholm, Sweden - Sweden 2 - 3 Belgium

August 5, 1953, Helsinki, Finland - Finland 3 - 3 Sweden

August 16, 1953, Stockholm, Sweden - Sweden 4 - 0 Finland

September 23, 1953, Brussels, Belgium - Belgium 2 - 2 Finland

October 8, 1953, Brussels, Belgium - Belgium 2 - 0 Sweden

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

Belgium qualified.

[edit] Group 3

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

October 3, 1953, Belfast, Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland 1 - 3 Scotland

October 10, 1953, Cardiff, Wales - Wales 1 - 4 England

November 4, 1953, Glasgow, Scotland - Scotland 3 - 3 Wales

November 11, 1953, Liverpool, England - England 3 - 1 Northern Ireland

March 31, 1954, Wrexham, Wales - Wales 1 - 2 Northern Ireland

April 3, 1954, Glasgow, Scotland - Scotland 2 - 4 England

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

England and Scotland qualified.

[edit] Group 4

September 20, 1953, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Luxembourg 1 - 6 France

October 4, 1953, Dublin, Ireland - Republic of Ireland 3 - 5 France

October 28, 1953, Dublin, Ireland - Republic of Ireland 4 - 0 Luxembourg

November 25, 1953, Paris, France - France 1 - 0 Republic of Ireland

December 27, 1953, Paris, France - France 8 - 0 Luxembourg

March 7, 1954, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Luxembourg 0 - 1 Republic of Ireland

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
1	France	8	4	4	0	20	4
2	Republic of Ireland	4	4	2	2	8	6
3	Luxembourg	0	4	0	4	1	19

France qualified.

[edit] Group 5

September 27, 1953, Vienna, Austria - Austria 9 - 1 Portugal

November 29, 1953, Lisbon, Portugal - Portugal 0 - 0 Austria

Austria qualified.

[edit] Group 6

January 6, 1954, Madrid, Spain - Spain 4 - 1 Turkey

March 14, 1954, Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey 1 - 0 Spain

With one win for either team, a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

March 17, 1954, Rome, Italy - Turkey 2 - 2 Spain

Turkey qualified after drawing of lots.

[edit] Group 7

Poland withdrew, so Hungary qualified automatically.

[edit] Group 8

June 14, 1953, Prague, Czechoslovakia - Czechoslovakia 2 - 0 Romania

June 28, 1953, Bucharest, Romania - Romania 3 - 1 Bulgaria

September 6, 1953, Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgaria 1 - 2 Czechoslovakia

October 11, 1953, Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgaria 1 - 2 Romania

October 25, 1953, Bucharest, Romania - Romania 0 - 1 Czechoslovakia

November 8, 1953, Prague, Czechoslovakia - Czechoslovakia 0 - 0 Bulgaria

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

Czechoslovakia qualified.

[edit] Group 9

November 13, 1953, Cairo, Egypt - Egypt 1 - 2 Italy

January 24, 1954, Milan, Italy - Italy 5 - 1 Egypt

Italy qualified.

[edit] Group 10

May 9, 1953, Belgrade, Yugoslavia - Yugoslavia 1 - 0 Greece

November 1, 1953, Athens, Greece - Greece 1 - 0 Israel

November 8, 1953, Skopje, Yugoslavia - Yugoslavia 1 - 0 Israel

March 7, 1954, Ramat Gan, Israel - Israel 0 - 2 Greece

March 21, 1954, Ramat Gan, Israel - Israel 0 - 1 Yugoslavia

March 28, 1954, Athens, Greece - Greece 0 - 1 Yugoslavia

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

Yugoslavia qualified.

[edit] Group 11

Peru withdrew.

February 14, 1954, Asunción, Paraguay - Paraguay 4 - 0 Chile

February 21, 1954, Santiago, Chile - Chile 1 - 3 Paraguay

February 28, 1954, Santiago, Chile - Chile 0 - 2 Brazil

March 7, 1954, Asunción, Paraguay - Paraguay 0 - 1 Brazil

March 14, 1954, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazil 1 - 0 Chile

March 21, 1954, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazil 4 - 1 Paraguay

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
1	Brazil	8	4	4	0	8	1
2	Paraguay	4	4	2	2	8	6
3	Chile	0	4	0	4	1	10

Brazil qualified.

[edit] Group 12

July 19, 1953, Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico 8 - 0 Haiti

December 27, 1953, Port au Prince, Haiti - Haiti 0 - 4 Mexico

January 10, 1954, Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico 4 - 0 USA

January 14, 1954, Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico 3 - 1 USA

April 3, 1954, Port au Prince, Haiti - Haiti 2 - 3 USA

April 4, 1954, Port au Prince, Haiti - Haiti 0 - 3 USA

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
1	Mexico	8	4	4	0	19	1
2	USA	4	4	2	2	7	9
3	Haiti	0	4	0	4	2	18

Mexico qualified.

[edit] Group 13

Taiwan withdrew.

March 7, 1954, Tokyo, Japan - Japan 1 - 5 Korea Republic

March 14, 1954, Tokyo, Japan - Japan 2 - 2 Korea Republic

South Korea qualified.

[edit] Qualified teams

Qualifying countries

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
Korea Republic	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⁾	1	1938⁽¹⁾
Yugoslavia	3rd	2	1950

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

¹ Includes 2 appearances by DFB representing pre-division Germany. This is their 1st appearance as West Germany.

[edit] Notes

Turkey is the only team to gain a place in the World Cup through the drawing of lots, over Spain after failing to decide which team was the winner of Group 6 after three matches.
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.
Saar entered their only World Cup competition, before the Saar protectorate became part of West Germany in 1957. They actually played West Germany in the qualifiers.

[edit] External links

FIFA World Cup qualification
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 \| USA 1994 \| France 1998 \| Korea/Japan 2002 \| Germany 2006 \| South Africa 2010

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Categories: FIFA World Cup qualification | 1954 in football (soccer) | 1954 FIFA World Cup