1954 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Tournament details
Teams	37 (from 3 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	57
Goals scored	208 (3.65 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Max Morlock (6 goals)
← 1950 1958 →

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

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

---

---

---

---

---

West Germany qualified.

Group 2

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

---

---

---

---

---

Belgium qualified. This was the first time Sweden failed to qualify.

Group 3

This group was also the 1953–54 British Home Championship.

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

---

---

---

---

---

England and Scotland qualified.

Group 4

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

---

---

---

---

---

France qualified.

Group 5

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Austria	2	1	1	0	9	1	+8	3
2	Portugal	2	0	1	1	1	9	−8	1

---

Austria qualified.

Group 6

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Spain	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2	2
	Turkey	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	2

---

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. ^{[1] [2]} 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

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	Qualified
—	Poland	Withdrew
—	Iceland	Entry rejected

Poland withdrew and Iceland had their entry rejected so Hungary qualified automatically.

Group 8

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

---

---

---

---

---

Czechoslovakia qualified. This was the first time Romania failed to qualify.

Group 9

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

---

Italy qualified.

Group 10

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

---

---

---

---

---

Yugoslavia qualified.

Group 11

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

---

---

---

---

---

Brazil qualified. Despite having participated in every World Cup, this was the first time they played qualifying matches.

Group 12

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Mexico	4	4	0	0	19	1	+18	8
2	United States	4	2	0	2	7	9	−2	4
3	Haiti	4	0	0	4	2	18	−16	0
4	Costa Rica	Entry rejected
5	Cuba	Entry rejected

---

---

---

---

---

Mexico qualified.

Group 13

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	South Korea	2	1	1	0	7	3	+4	3
2	Japan	2	0	1	1	3	7	−4	1
3	Republic of China	Withdrew
4	India	Entry rejected
5	Vietnam	Entry rejected

---

South Korea qualified.

Qualified teams

Team	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Streak	Last appearance
Austria	29 November 1953	3rd	1	1938
Belgium	8 October 1953	4th	1	1938
Brazil	21 March 1954	5th	5	1950
Czechoslovakia	25 October 1953	3rd	1	1938
England	11 November 1953	2nd	2	1950
France	25 November 1953	4th	1	1938
Hungary (w)		3rd	1	1938
Italy	24 January 1954	4th	4	1950
South Korea	14 March 1954	1st	1	—
Mexico	14 January 1954	3rd	2	1950
Scotland	31 March 1954	1st	1	—
Switzerland (h)	22 July 1946	4th	4	1950
Turkey	17 March 1954	1st	1	—
Uruguay (c)	16 July 1950	3rd	2	1950
West Germany	28 March 1954	3rd	1	1938
Yugoslavia	28 March 1954	3rd	2	1950

(h) – qualified automatically as hosts

(c) – qualified automatically as defending champions

(w) – qualified automatically because Poland withdrew

Goalscorers

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

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. ^[3]
• 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 Archived 2014-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
• RSSSF – 1954 World Cup Qualification