1954 FIFA World Cup

1954 FIFA World Cup - Switzerland Championnat du Monde de Football 1954
Official Logo
Teams	16 (from 45 entrants)
Host	Switzerland
Champions	West Germany (1st title)
Matches played	26
Goals scored	140 (average 5.385 per match)
Attendance	(average per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sándor Kocsis 11 goals

Qualifying countries.

The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth staging of the World Cup, was held in Switzerland from June 16 to July 4. As the year saw the 50th anniversary of FIFA, it was appropriate for football's premier competition to be played in the home of its governing body, and Switzerland was chosen as hosts in July 1946. The tournament was won by West Germany, who upset Hungary 3-2 in the final, giving them their first title.

Qualification

Main article: 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification

Summary

For the first time there was television coverage, and special coins were issued to mark the event. 16 teams qualified for the tournament and an unusual system was used in the first stage. The 16 teams were divided into four groups: each group was comprised of two of the eight seeded teams based on world rankings (Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Uruguay), plus two unseeded teams.

The official 1954 FIFA World Cup poster.

Instead of a conventional round-robin where each team would play three matches, the seeded teams as well as the unseeded teams were spared from playing each other as the unseeded teams were squared up only against the seeded ones in a chance to qualify, so each team played only 2 group matches, unless tied for the second qualifying position by points, which required a play-off. Extra time was played for any games that was tied after 90 minutes, with the result being a draw if the scores were still level after 120 minutes. The two teams finishing at the top of their group went through to the quarter-finals. Uruguay and Austria both won their games, thus finished the group level on points in the qualifying positions, and drew lots to determine who they would play in the next round, as did Brazil and Yugoslavia.

Consequently Switzerland and Italy played each other twice with Switzerland winning the play-off 4-1. The Germans, who had been reinstated as full FIFA members only in 1950 and were unseeded, won the first of two encounters with the seeded Turkish convincingly in Berne at Wankdorf stadium. The Koreans, as the other unseeded team, lost 0-7 and 0-9, with Germany being denied the chance to play such an easy opponent. Sepp Herberger gambled against the seeded team of Hungary by sending in a reserve side to take an expected 3-8 loss, with the only consequence being the additional playoff game against Turkey that was won with ease.

The quarter-finals saw the favourites Hungary beat Brazil 4-2 in one of the most violent matches in football history, which became infamous as the Battle of Berne. Meanwhile, the World Cup holders Uruguay sent England out of the tournament, also by 4-2. Germany dispatched Yugoslavia 2-0, and Austria beat the host nation Switzerland in the game that saw the most goals in any World Cup match, 7-5.

One of the semi-finals saw Austria, against the DFB team which represented the Federal Republic of Germany, one of three German states of the time. The DFB had qualified against fellow Germans from the French-occupied Saarland, while East Germany had not entered, cancelling international football games after the East German uprising of 1953. With the final at stake, Austria 6-1.

The other semi-final, one of the most exciting games of the tournament, saw Hungary go into the second half leading Uruguay 1-0, only for the game to be taken to extra time with a score after 90 minutes of 2-2. The deadlock was broken by Sándor Kocsis with two late goals to take Hungary through to the final, beating a team that had not previously lost a World Cup game. Uruguay then went on to be beaten for a second time as Austria secured third place.

Final: "The Miracle of Bern"

The Wankdorf Stadion in Berne saw 60,000 people cram inside to watch the final between West Germany and Hungary, a rematch of a first round game, which Hungary had won 8-3 against the reserves of the German team. The Golden Team of the Hungarians were favourites, as they were unbeaten for a record of 32 consecutive matches, but they had two tough playoff matches. It had started raining on game day - in Germany this was dubbed "Fritz-Walter-Wetter" (Fritz Walter's weather) because the German team captain Fritz Walter was said to play his best in rainy weather. Adi Dassler had provided shoes with exchangeable studs.

Card autographed by coach Sepp Herberger and the 11 German players that appeared in the final

The final saw Hungary's Ferenc Puskás playing even though he was not fully fit. Despite this he put his team ahead after only 6 minutes, and with Zoltán Czibor adding another two minutes later it seemed that the pre-tournament favourites would take the title. However, with a quick goal from Max Morlock in the 10th, and the equalizer of Helmut Rahn in the 19th, the tide began to turn.

The second half saw telling misses from the Hungarian team. Barely 6 minutes before the end of the match, the popular German radio reporter Herbert Zimmermann gave the most famous German piece of commentary, recommending Rahn should kick from the backfield, which he did. The second goal from Rahn gave Germany a 3-2 lead while the Hungarian reporter Gyorgy Szepesi burst into tears. Later, Zimmermann called Puskás offside before he kicked the ball into Toni Turek's net with 2 minutes left. The offside was flagged by linesman Griffiths and the claimed equalizer was not allowed by referee Ling.

The Germans were handed the Jules Rimet trophy and the title of World Cup winners while the crowd sang along to the tunes of the national anthems of Germany. In Germany the success is known as The Miracle of Bern, upon which a 2003 film of the same name was based. For the Hungarians, the defeat was a disaster.

The 11 goals scored by Kocsis of Hungary not only led the World Cup, but bettered the previous record (set by Brazilian Ademir in the previous tournament) by two goals. However, Kocsis' mark was broken by Just Fontaine's 13 goals in 1958.

Venues

Six cities hosted the tournament:

Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
Berne, Wankdorf Stadium
Geneva, Charmilles Stadium
Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
Lugano, Cornaredo Stadium
Zürich, Hardturm Stadium

Squads

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1954 FIFA World Cup squads.

Results

First round

Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Brazil	3	2	1	1	0	6	1
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	1	0	2	1
France	2	2	1	0	1	3	3
Mexico	0	2	0	0	2	2	8

June 16, 1954 18:00
	Brazil	5 – 0	Mexico	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Ref: Wyssling (Switzerland) Attendance: 13,000
	Baltazar 23' Didi 30' Pinga 34', 43' Julinho 69'	(Report)

June 16, 1954 18:00
	Yugoslavia	1 – 0	France	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Ref: Griffiths (Wales) Attendance: 27,000
	Milutinović 15'	(Report)

June 19, 1954 17:00
	Brazil	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Ref: Faultless (Scotland) Attendance: 40,000
	Didi 69'	(Report)	Zebec 48'

June 19, 1954 17:10
	France	3 – 2	Mexico	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Ref: Asensi (Spain) Attendance: 19,000
	Vincent 19' Cárdenas 49' (o.g.) Kopa 88' (pen)	(Report)	Lamadrid 54' Balcázar 85'

Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
Hungary	4	2	2	0	17	3
West Germany	2	2	1	1	7	9
Turkey	2	2	1	1	8	4
Korea Republic	0	2	0	2	0	16

June 17, 1954 18:00
	West Germany	4 – 1	Turkey	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Ref: Da Costa Vieira (Portugal) Attendance: 39,000
	Schäfer 14' Klodt 52' O. Walter 60' Morlock 84'	(Report)	Suat 2'

June 17, 1954 18:00
	Hungary	9 – 0	Korea Republic	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Ref: Vincenti (France) Attendance: 18,000
	Puskás 12', 89' Lantos 18 Kocsis 24', 36', 50' Czibor 59' Palotás 75', 83'	(Report)

June 20, 1954 16:50
	Hungary	8 – 3	West Germany	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Ref: Ling(England) Attendance: 65,000
	Kocsis 3', 21', 67', 78' Puskás 17' Hidegkuti 50', 54' J. Tóth 73'	(Report)	Pfaff 25' Rahn 77' Herrmann 81'

June 20, 1954 17:00
	Turkey	7 – 0	Korea Republic	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Ref: Marino (Uruguay) Attendance: 3,000
	Suat 10', 30' Lefter 24' Burhan 37', 64', 70' Erol 76'	(Report)

Play-off:

June 23, 1954 18:00
	West Germany	7 – 2	Turkey	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Ref: Vincenti (France) Attendance: 18,000
	O. Walter 7' Schäfer 12', 79' Morlock 30', 60', 77' F. Walter 62'	(Report)	Mustafa 21' Lefter 82'

Group 3

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
Uruguay	4	2	2	0	9	0
Austria	4	2	2	0	6	0
Czechoslovakia	0	2	0	2	0	7
Scotland	0	2	0	2	0	8

June 16, 1954 18:00
	Uruguay	2 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Ref: Ellis (England) Attendance: 20,500
	Míguez 72' Schiaffino 81'	(Report)

June 16, 1954 18:00
	Austria	1 – 0	Scotland	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Ref: Franken (Belgium) Attendance: 30,000
	Probst 33'	(Report)

June 19, 1954 16:50
	Uruguay	7 – 0	Scotland	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Ref: Orlandini (Italy) Attendance: 43,000
	Borges 17', 47', 57' Míguez 30', 83' Abbadie 54', 85'	(Report)

June 19, 1954 17:00
	Austria	5 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Ref: Stefanovic (Yugoslavia) Attendance: 25,000
	Stojaspal 3', 70' Probst 4', 21', 24'	(Report)

Group 4

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
England	3	2	1	1	0	6	4
Switzerland	2	2	1	0	1	2	3
Italy	2	2	1	0	1	5	3
Belgium	1	2	0	1	1	5	8

June 17, 1954 17:50
	Switzerland	2 – 1	Italy	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Ref: Viana (Brazil) Attendance: 43,000
	Ballaman 18' Hügi 78'	(Report)	Boniperti 44'

June 17, 1954 18:10
	England	4 – 4 (a.e.t.)	Belgium	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Ref: Schmetzer (West Germany) Attendance: 40,000
	Broadis 26', 63' Lofthouse 36', 91'	(Report)	Anoul 5', 71' Coppens 67' Dickinson 94' (o.g.)

June 20, 1954 17:00
	Italy	4 – 1	Belgium	Lugano, Cornaredo Stadium Ref: Steiner (Austria) Attendance: 26,000
	Pandolfini 41' (pen) Galli 48' Frignani 58' Lorenzi 78'	(Report)	Anoul 81'

June 20, 1954 17:10
	England	2 – 0	Switzerland	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Ref: Zsolt (Hungary) Attendance: 50,000
	Mullen 43' Wilshaw 69'	(Report)

Play-off:

June 23, 1954 18:00
	Switzerland	4 – 1	Italy	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Ref: Griffiths (Wales) Attendance: 30,000
	Hügi 14', 85' Ballaman 48' Fatton 90'	(Report)	Nesti 67'