1954 FIFA World Cup

1954 FIFA World Cup
Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft; Schweiz 1954 (German); Championnat du Monde de Football; Suisse 1954 (French); Campionato mondiale di calcio; Svizzera 1954 (Italian); Campiunadis mundials da ballape; Svizra 1954 (Romansh)
Tournament details
Host country	Switzerland
Dates	16 June – 4 July
Teams	16 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	West Germany (1st title)
Runners-up	Hungary
Third place	Austria
Fourth place	Uruguay
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	140 (5.38 per match)
Attendance	768,607 (29,562 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sándor Kocsis (11 goals)
	← 1950 1958 →

Last updated May 17, 2024

The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerland was selected as the host country in July 1946.^[1] At the tournament, several all-time records for goal-scoring were set, including the highest average number of goals scored per game. The tournament was won by West Germany, who defeated tournament favourites Hungary 3–2 in the final for their first World Cup title. Uruguay the defending champions were eliminated by Hungary and would lose to Austria in the third-place match.

Host selection

Switzerland was awarded the tournament unopposed at a meeting in Luxembourg City on 22 July 1946, the same day Brazil was selected to host the 1950 World Cup.^[1]

Qualification

The hosts (Switzerland) and the defending champions (Uruguay) qualified automatically. Of the remaining 14 places, 11 were allocated to Europe (including Egypt, Turkey, and Israel), two to the Americas, and one to Asia.

Scotland, Turkey, and South Korea made their World Cup debuts at this tournament (Turkey and Scotland had qualified for the 1950 competition but both withdrew). South Korea became the first independent Asian country to participate in a World Cup tournament. Austria appeared following a hiatus from 1934. South Korea did not appear at a World Cup finals again until 1986, while Turkey's next appearance was not until 2002. Several teams, such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia (the pre-war World Cups' runners-up) were back into the tournament after missing out the 1950 World Cup.

The teams that finished third and fourth in 1950, Sweden and Spain, both failed to qualify. Spain was eliminated by Turkey; the two countries finished level on points in their qualifying group, and then drew their neutral play-off, which led to the drawing of lots by a blindfolded Italian boy, who picked Turkey to progress.^[2]^[3]

German teams as well as Japan were allowed to qualify again, after having been banned from the 1950 FIFA World Cup. West Germany qualified against fellow Germans from the Saarland (which then was a French protectorate), while East Germany did not enter, having cancelled international football matches after the East German uprising of 1953. Japan failed to qualify, having finished below South Korea in their qualifying group. Argentina declined to participate for the third successive World Cup.

List of qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Asia (1)

South Korea (debut)

Africa (0)

None qualified

North, Central America and Caribbean (1)

Mexico

South America (2)

Brazil
Uruguay (title holders)

Europe (12)

Summary

Format

Group stage

The 1954 tournament used a unique format. The sixteen qualifying teams were divided into four groups of four teams each. Each group contained two seeded teams and two unseeded teams. Only four matches were scheduled for each group, each pitting a seeded team against an unseeded team. This contrasts with the usual round-robin in which every team plays every other team: six matches in each group. Another oddity was that extra time, which in most tournaments is not employed at the group stage, was played in the group games if the score was level after 90 minutes, with the result being a draw if the scores were still level after 120 minutes.^[4]

Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. The two teams with the most points from each group progressed to the knockout stage. In the case of a tie between two teams for second place, the two tied teams competed in a play-off to decide which team would progress to the next stage, with extra time and drawing of lots if necessary.^[4]^[5] Had all four teams in a group been tied on points, there would have been two further play-offs – one play-off between the two seeded teams, and the other between the two unseeded teams, again with extra time and drawing of lots if necessary – with the winner of each play-off progressing to the quarter-finals.^[4]

Two of the four groups ended up requiring play-offs – one between Switzerland and Italy, and the other between Turkey and West Germany. In each match, the unseeded team (Switzerland and West Germany) repeated an earlier victory against the seeded team (Italy and Turkey) to progress. The fact that two group matches were played twice, while other group opponents never faced each other at all, attracted criticism; newly elected FIFA President Seeldrayers declared that this group format would be abandoned in future world cups.^[6]

Quarter-finals

For each of the first two quarter-finals, one team progressing from group 1 was drawn against one team progressing from group 2. For the remaining two quarter-finals, this procedure was repeated for groups 3 and 4.^[4] Before the tournament, it was stated that in the event of a quarter-final being tied after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time would be played, followed by drawing of lots if necessary.^[4] Later, it was stated that a quarter-final could be replayed in this situation.^[7] The draw was scheduled to be held on Sunday 20 June, though in fact it was delayed into the early morning of Monday 21 June.^[8]

Semi-finals

For the semi-finals, a further draw was held, with each semi-final featuring one team from groups 1–2 against one team from groups 3–4.^[4] In the event of a semi-final being tied after extra time, it would be replayed once, followed by drawing of lots if necessary.^[4]

The draw for the semi-finals, held on Sunday 27 June, was delayed by a complaint from the Hungarian team concerning the manner in which their quarter-final against Brazil had been played.^[9]^[7]

Final

The final would be replayed if scores were level after extra-time. If the replay was also tied, the winner would be decided by the tournament organising committee,^[4] or by drawing of lots.^[10]

Seeding

Before qualification was complete, the eight seeded teams were determined by FIFA. They were Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Uruguay.

These seedings were thrown into disarray when, in an unexpected result, Turkey eliminated Spain in qualification. FIFA resolved this situation by giving Turkey the seeding that had previously been allocated to Spain.^[11]

Notable results

West Germany, who had been reinstated as full FIFA members in 1950 and were unseeded, convincingly won the first of two encounters with the seeded Turkish side at Wankdorf stadium in Berne. The South Koreans, the other unseeded team, lost 7–0 and 9–0, with West Germany being denied the chance to play such an easy opponent. Sepp Herberger, the West German coach, gambled against the seeded team of Hungary by sending in a reserve side, and lost 8–3; so they had to play off against Turkey, a match that West Germany easily won.

Hungary's team captain Ferenc Puskás, considered by many as the best player in the world in that time, was injured by West German defender Werner Liebrich, and had to miss Hungary's next two matches. Puskás played for Hungary in the final, despite still being in a questionable condition.^[12]

In the quarter-finals, 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. West 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.

In the first semi-final, West Germany beat 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, with Uruguay finally losing their unbeaten record in World Cup Final matches. 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 had two tough knockout matches. It started raining on match day – in Germany this was dubbed Fritz-Walter-Wetter ("Fritz Walter's weather") because the West German team captain Fritz Walter was said to play his best in the rain. Adi Dassler had provided shoes with exchangeable studs.

Hungary's Ferenc Puskás played again in the final, even though he was not fully fit. Despite this he put his team ahead after only six 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 equaliser of Helmut Rahn in the 19th, the tide began to turn.

The second half saw telling misses by the Hungarian team. Barely six minutes before the end of the match, the popular German radio reporter Herbert Zimmermann gave the most famous German piece of commentary, recommending that "Rahn should shoot from deep", which he did. The second goal from Rahn gave West Germany a 3–2 lead while the Hungarian reporter György Szepesi burst into tears. Later, Zimmermann called Puskás offside before he kicked the ball into Toni Turek's net with 2 minutes left. While referee Ling pointed to the centre spot, linesman Griffiths signalled offside. After a one-minute consultation, referee Ling disallowed the claimed equaliser.

The West Germans were handed the Jules Rimet Trophy and the title of World Cup winners, while the crowd sang along to the tune of the national anthem of West Germany (a scandal broke because the first stanza was sung, the atmosphere became tense^[13]). In Germany the success is known as "The Miracle of Berne", upon which a 2003 film of the same name was based. For the Hungarians, the defeat was a disaster, and remains controversial due to claimed referee errors and claims of doping.

One controversy concerns the 2–2 equaliser. Hungarian goalie Gyula Grosics jumped to catch Fritz Walter's corner shot, but in plain sight of the camera, Hans Schäfer obstructed him, and so the ball reached Rahn unhindered. The second controversy concerns allegations of doping to explain the better condition of the West German team in the second half. Though teammates steadfastly denied this rumour, German historian Guido Knopp claimed in a 2004 documentary for German public channel ZDF ^[14] that the players were injected with shots of vitamin C at half-time, using a needle earlier taken from a Soviet sports doctor, which would also explain the wave of jaundice among team members following the tournament. A Leipzig University study in 2010 posited that the West German players had been injected with the banned substance methamphetamine.^[15]

Most controversial was the offside ruling for Puskás's intended 87th-minute equaliser. The camera filming the official footage was in a bad position to judge the situation, but eyewitnesses claimed that the referee was wrong, including West German substitute player Alfred Pfaff.^[16] However, since then, unofficial footage surfaced evidencing no offside (shown on North German regional public channel NDR in 2004.^[17])

Records

The following all-time records were set or equalled at this tournament, and have not been surpassed:

All matches in one tournament

highest average goals per game (5.38)

Team records for one tournament

most goals scored (Hungary, 27)
highest average goals scored per game (Hungary, 5.4)
highest aggregate goal difference (Hungary, +17)
highest average goal difference per game (Hungary, +3.4)
most goals scored, champions (West Germany, 25)
most average goals scored per game, champions (West Germany, 4.17)
most goals conceded, champions (West Germany, 14)
most average goals conceded per game, champions (West Germany, 2.33)
most goals conceded (South Korea, 16)
lowest aggregate goal difference (South Korea, −16)
most average goals conceded per game (South Korea, 8, tied with Bolivia 1950)
lowest average goal difference per game (South Korea, −8.0, tied with Bolivia 1950).

Records for a single game

most goals in a single game (both teams) (Austria 7 Switzerland 5)
greatest margin of victory in a single game (Hungary 9 South Korea 0) (equalled by Yugoslavia winning 9–0 against Zaire in 1974 and again Hungary winning 10–1 against El Salvador in 1982).

Other landmarks

For the first time there was television coverage,^[18]^[19] and special coins were issued to mark the event.

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 three goals. Kocsis' mark was broken by Just Fontaine's 13 goals in 1958. Despite not winning the 1954 tournament, their fourth-place finish and their two previous World Cup titles made Uruguay the most successful World Cup nation for eight years, until Brazil won their second title in 1962. Hungary's 9–0 win against Korea during the group stages remains the biggest margin of victory in FIFA World Cup history, later equalled by Yugoslavia over Zaire (9–0) in 1974 and Hungary over El Salvador (10–1) in 1982.

West Germany also became the first team to win the World Cup after having lost a match at the finals (losing 8–3 to Hungary in the group stage). This feat was repeated by West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978 and Spain in 2010, who all lost group matches 1–0 (coincidentally, all three teams won against the Netherlands in the final), as well as by Argentina in 2022, who lost a group match 2-1 against Saudi Arabia.

West Germany's 1954 victory remains the only time that a team has won the World Cup without playing any team from outside its own continent (Turkey is geographically more in Asia compared to Europe, but qualified from Europe's qualification zone and has always been affiliated with UEFA).

West Germany's victory in the final is considered one of the greatest upsets of all time and one of the finest achievements in German sporting history. The West German team was made up of amateur players, as Germany did not have a professional league at this time, while the Hungarians were de jure amateurs, like all the communist countries at that time, but playing football as professionals, mainly for Budapesti Honvéd FC and later for major clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and were ranked best in the world. This is the only time a team has won the World Cup with amateur footballers.

Venues

Six venues in six cities (1 venue in each city) hosted the tournament's 26 matches. The most used stadium was the St. Jakob Stadium in Basel, which hosted 6 matches. The venues in Bern, Zurich and Lausanne each hosted 5 matches, the venue in Geneva hosted 4 matches, and the venue in Lugano only hosted 1 match.

Bern, Canton of Bern	Basel, Basel-Stadt	Lausanne, Vaud
Wankdorf Stadium	St. Jakob Stadium	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
46°57′46″N7°27′54″E / 46.96278°N 7.46500°E / 46.96278; 7.46500 (Wankdorf Stadium)	47°32′29″N7°37′12″E / 47.54139°N 7.62000°E / 47.54139; 7.62000 (St. Jakob Stadium)	46°32′00″N006°37′27″E / 46.53333°N 6.62417°E / 46.53333; 6.62417 (Stade olympique de la Pontaise)
Capacity: 64,600	Capacity: 54,800	Capacity: 50,300

Geneva Basel Bern Zürich Lausanne Lugano
Geneva, Canton of Geneva	Lugano, Ticino	Zürich, Canton of Zürich
Charmilles Stadium	Cornaredo Stadium	Hardturm Stadium
46°12′33″N6°07′06″E / 46.2091°N 6.1182°E / 46.2091; 6.1182 (Charmilles Stadium)	46°01′25″N8°57′42″E / 46.02361°N 8.96167°E / 46.02361; 8.96167 (Cornaredo Stadium)	47°23′35″N8°30′17″E / 47.39306°N 8.50472°E / 47.39306; 8.50472 (Hardturm Stadium)
Capacity: 35,997	Capacity: 35,800	Capacity: 34,800

Squads

The 16 finalists named squads of 22 for the finals, though South Korea only named 20 players in their squad. Unlike recent tournaments, there were no requirements for teams to name three goalkeepers; most teams did, but 6 did not. Some teams also chose to leave some of their named squad at home, only bringing them to Switzerland if necessary.

Group stage

All times listed are local time (CET, UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	2	1	1	0	6	1	+5	3	Advance to knockout stage
2	Yugoslavia	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3	Advance to knockout stage
3	France	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	2
4	Mexico	2	0	0	2	2	8	−6	0

Source: FIFA

16 June 1954

18:00

Brazil	5–0	Mexico
Baltazar 23' Didi 30' Pinga 34', 43' Julinho 69'	Report

Charmilles Stadium, Geneva

Attendance: 13,470

Referee: Raymon Wyssling (Switzerland)

16 June 1954

18:00

Yugoslavia	1–0	France
Milutinović 15'	Report

Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Benjamin Griffiths (Wales)

19 June 1954

17:00

Brazil	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia
Didi 69'	Report	Zebec 48'

Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne

Attendance: 24,637

Referee: Charlie Faultless (Scotland)

19 June 1954

17:10

France	3–2	Mexico
Vincent 19' Cárdenas 46' (o.g.) Kopa 88' (pen.)	Report	Lamadrid 54' Balcázar 85'

Charmilles Stadium, Geneva

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Manuel Asensi (Spain)

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary	2	2	0	17	3	+14	4	Advance to the knockout stage
2	West Germany	2	1	1	7	9	−2	2^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Advance to the knockout stage
3	Turkey	2	1	1	8	4	+4	2^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	South Korea	2	0	2	0	16	−16	0

Source: FIFA
Notes:

1 2 Second place decided over through play-off: West Germany 7–2 Turkey.

17 June 1954

18:00

West Germany	4–1	Turkey
Schäfer 14' Klodt 52' O. Walter 60' Morlock 84'	Report	Suat 2'

Wankdorf Stadium, Bern

Attendance: 28,000

Referee: Jose da Costa Vieira (Portugal)

17 June 1954

18:00

Hungary	9–0	South Korea
Puskás 12', 89' Lantos 18' Kocsis 24', 36', 50' Czibor 59' Palotás 75', 83'	Report

Hardturm Stadium, Zürich

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Raymond Vincenti (France)

20 June 1954

16:50

Hungary	8–3	West Germany
Kocsis 3', 21', 69', 78' Puskás 17' Hidegkuti 52', 54' J. Tóth 75'	Report	Pfaff 25' Rahn 77' Herrmann 84'

St. Jakob Stadium, Basel

Attendance: 56,000

Referee: William Ling (England)

20 June 1954

17:00

Turkey	7–0	South Korea
Suat 10', 30' Lefter 24' Burhan 37', 64', 70' Erol 76'	Report

Charmilles Stadium, Geneva

Attendance: 3,541^[20]

Referee: Esteban Marino (Uruguay)

Play-off

23 June 1954

18:00

West Germany	7–2	Turkey
O. Walter 7' Schäfer 12', 79' Morlock 30', 60', 77' F. Walter 62'	Report	Mustafa 21' Lefter 82'

Hardturm Stadium, Zürich

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: Raymond Vincenti (France)

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uruguay	2	2	0	9	0	+9	4	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Austria	2	2	0	6	0	+6	4	Advance to the knockout stage
3	Czechoslovakia	2	0	2	0	7	−7	0
4	Scotland	2	0	2	0	8	−8	0

Source: FIFA

16 June 1954

18:00

Uruguay	2–0	Czechoslovakia
Míguez 71' Schiaffino 84'	Report

Wankdorf Stadium, Bern

Attendance: 20,500

Referee: Arthur Ellis (England)

16 June 1954

18:00

Austria	1–0	Scotland
Probst 33'	Report

Hardturm Stadium, Zürich

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Laurent Franken (Belgium)

19 June 1954

16:50

Uruguay	7–0	Scotland
Borges 17', 47', 57' Míguez 30', 83' Abbadie 54', 85'	Report

St. Jakob Stadium, Basel

Attendance: 34,000

Referee: Vincenzo Orlandini (Italy)

19 June 1954

17:00

Austria	5–0	Czechoslovakia
Stojaspal 3', 65' Probst 4', 21', 24'	Report

Hardturm Stadium, Zürich

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: Vasa Stefanovic (Yugoslavia)

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	2	1	1	0	6	4	+2	3	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Switzerland	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	2^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Advance to the knockout stage
3	Italy	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	2^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Belgium	2	0	1	1	5	8	−3	1

Source: FIFA
Notes:

1 2 Second place decided over through play-off: Switzerland 4–1 Italy

17 June 1954

17:50

Switzerland	2–1	Italy
Ballaman 18' Hügi 78'	Report	Boniperti 44'

Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne

Attendance: 40,749^[21]

Referee: Mário Vianna (Brazil)

17 June 1954

18:10

England	4–4 (a.e.t.)	Belgium
Broadis 26', 63' Lofthouse 36', 91'	Report	Anoul 5', 71' Coppens 67' Dickinson 94' (o.g.)

St. Jakob Stadium, Basel

Attendance: 14,000

Referee: Emil Schmetzer (West Germany)

20 June 1954

17:00

Italy	4–1	Belgium
Pandolfini 41' (pen.) Galli 48' Frignani 58' Lorenzi 78'	Report	Anoul 81'

Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano

Attendance: 24,000

Referee: Carl Erich Steiner (Austria)

20 June 1954

17:10

England	2–0	Switzerland
Mullen 43' Wilshaw 69'	Report

Wankdorf Stadium, Bern

Attendance: 43,119^[22]

Referee: Istvan Zsolt (Hungary)

Play-off

23 June 1954

18:00

Switzerland	4–1	Italy
Hügi 14', 85' Ballaman 48' Fatton 90'	Report	Nesti 67'

St. Jakob Stadium, Basel

Attendance: 28,655^[23]

Referee: Benjamin Griffiths (Wales)

Knockout stage