The 1954 FIFA World Cup took place in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July 1954. Sixteen teams from four confederations participated in the final tournament: 12 teams from Europe (UEFA), 2 from South America (CONMEBOL), 1 from North America, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF), and 1 from Asia (AFC). Three teams made their first World Cup presentation (Scotland, Turkey and South Korea).
The World Cup in Switzerland was spectacular thanks to a marvellous Hungary team and an avalanche of goals. The World Cup set a number of all-time records for goal-scoring, including the highest average goals scored per game. The tournament recorded 140 goals and 5.38 goals per game, a record that still stands. In just 8 matches were scored 70 goals, a record that hardly can be broken (Austria 7-5 Switzerland, Hungary 8-3 West Germany, Hungary 9-0 South Korea, West Germany 7-2 Turkey, England 4-4 Belgium, Turkey 7-0 South Korea, Uruguay 7-0 Scotland, West Germany 6-1 Austria). Moreover, the highest number of goals ever in a World Cup match was in the game between Austria and Switzerland. Swiss were defeated 7-5 by Alpine rivals Austria.
The 1954 World Cup was won by the unseeded West Germany that defeated surprisingly the Olympic champions and favourites Hungary 3-2 to win their first World Cup title in one of the best and finest final the world have seen. The match is remembered as The Miracle of Bern, since Hungary went into the World Cup having not lost in four years and twenty eight internationals.
Color television is introduced in United States (1951).
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Winston Churchill becomes again Prime Minister of Great Britain (1951).
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King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated (1951).
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Sister Theresa becomes Mother Theresa and begins to work in Calcutta, India (1952).
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Jawaharlal Nehru is reelected after win the India's first general election (1952).
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María Eva Duarte de Perón, Evita, dies in Argentina (1952).
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Polio vaccine is developed by Jonas Salk (1952).
Salk holds two bottles of a culture used to grow the polio vaccines
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Elizabeth II becomes Queen of United Kingdom after the death of King George VI (1952).
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Oslo, Norway, holds the VI Winter Olympic Games (1952).
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Dwight Eisenhower becomes President of United States (1953).
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James Watson and Francis Crick publish their discovery of the molecular model of DNA (1953).
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Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia (1953).
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Korean War ends (1953).
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Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, dies (1953).
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Cambodia gains its independence from France (1953).
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Ernest Hemingway wins Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea (1953).
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Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953).
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The New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Nepali sherpa climber Tenzing Norgay become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953).
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Laos becomes independent (1954).
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The Algerian War of Independence (Algeria and France) begins (1954).
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USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is launched (1954).
USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine
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Alfredo Stroessner comes to the power in a coup d'état in Paraguay (1954).
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Getúlio Vargas, president and dictator of Brazil, commits suicide (1954).
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The first atomic power station in the world begins to work in Obninsk, near Moscow, Russia (1954).
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CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is established on the Franco-Swiss border (1954).
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UEFA is founded in Switzerland (1954).
Antecedents
Switzerland was chosen unopposed to host the 1954 FIFA World Cup at the conference held in Luxembourg on 26 July 1946, the same day that Brazil was selected to host the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup returned to Europe after the World War II.
Switzerland was the obvious choice of venue for several reasons: The Swiss had the infrastructure for an event of this magnitude and had also promised to build several purpose-built stadia, Switzerland was one of the few European countries which suffered no damage during the world war, and also to mark the 50th anniversary of FIFA, which had its headquarters just in Zurich, one of the most important cities of the host country. The 1954 FIFA World Cup would be the first to be televised.
FIFA also had a new President: The Belgian Rodolphe Seeldrayers. Jules Rimet was FIFA's longest serving president, having served for 33 years.
Qualification
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Participating countries:
39
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Withdrew:
3
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Qualified automatically:
3
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Teams that played at least one qualifying match:
33
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Matches:
57
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Total goals:
208 (3.64 per match)
A total of 39 teams signed up to participate in the 1954 World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 14 spots in the final tournament. Switzerland, as the hosts, and Uruguay, as the defending champions, qualified automatically.
This was the first time that a qualifying process took place in Asia and South America. In the previous championships Asian and South American teams had participated by invitation or by the removal of other teams.
German teams were allowed to qualify again, after having been banned from the 1950 FIFA World Cup. West Germany qualified while East Germany did not enter. Argentina declined to participate for the third World Cup in succession.
The 14 available spots were distributed in continental zones as shown below:
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Europe (UEFA): 27 teams (including Turkey, Israel and Egypt) competed for 11 direct places. Switzerland, as host country, qualified automatically. Poland withdrew, so Hungary qualified without playing any match
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South America (CONMEBOL): 4 teams competed for a 1 direct place. Uruguay, as defending champion, qualified automatically. Peru withdrew.
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North America, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 teams competed for 1 place.
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Asia (AFC): 3 teams competed for 1 spot. Republic of China withdrew.
A total of 33 teams played at least one qualifying match. 57 qualifying matches were played, and 208 goals were scored.
Sweden and Spain, the third and fourth place teams from the 1950 World Cup, both failed to qualify. A curious fact happened in the matches between Spain and Turkey in group 6. After failing to decide which team will advance to the 1954 FIFA World Cup after three matches, the winner was decided by a coin toss. Turkey gained the place.
The format of the competition changed from 1950. It adopted an unusual new format. The sixteen teams were divided in four groups of four teams each, two seeded teams and two unseeded teams. Instead of playing with the round-robin format, each seeded team hat to play with the other two unseeded teams. Therefore, the teams had to play just two matches per group rather than the usual three. Only 4 matches were scheduled for each group. Incredibly, there was not to be draws in the first round. All matches level after 90 minutes went to extra-time. Only if the scores were still tied after 120 minutes were they deemed drawn.
The best two teams of each group would advance to the knockout stage. If the top two from each group were equal in points, lots would be drawn to decide which team would be the top of the group. However, if the second and third placed teams were equals on points, they would require a playoff to decide which team would progress to the following stage. A further unusual feature of the format was that the four group-winning teams will be drawn against each other in the knockout stages to produce one finalist, and the four second-placed teams will play against each other to produce the second finalist.
If a knockout match was tied after ninety minutes, then thirty minutes of extra time would be added. If the score had still tied after extra time, lots would have been drawn to decide which team advanced. On the other hand, if the final had been tied after extra time, it would have been replayed, with lots deciding the World Champion only if the replay was also tied after extra time. It was not necessary.
The eight seeded teams were determined based on the global ranking of those times: Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Uruguay. As Turkey eliminated Spain in qualification, FIFA in a highly controversial decision gave Turkey the seeding that had previously been allocated to Spain.
Squads
For a complete list of all squads that appeared in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, please, visit: 1954 World Cup squads
26 match officials from 14 countries and 2 confederation were the responsible for enforcing the laws of the game during the course of the 22 World Cup matches.
The first round had some facts worth noting. In Group A, Brazil and Yugoslavia with three points each progressed to the knockout stage. As expected, a talented Hungary with two tremendous thrashings (Hungary 9-0 South Korea, Hungary 8-3 West Germany) topped Group B ahead of West Germany and Turkey. Sandor Kocsis, the legendary centre-forward, scored 7 goals in two games. Ferenc Puskás, Hungary's team captain, considered by many as the best player of the world, was injured by West German defender Werner Liebrich, and had to miss the following matches of his team, only to show up in the final again, still being in a questionable condition. West Germany had to play off against Turkey after the two teams were equal on points. The Germans embarrassed the Turks 7-0. Uruguay and Austria without any kind of problems topped the Group C and advanced to the quarter-finals. England had no problems winning Group D ahead of Switzerland and Italy. Switzerland had to play off against Italy, a match that they easily won.
In the quarter-finals, Austria defeated the host nation Switzerland in the game that saw the most goals in any World Cup match, 7–5. Despite going 3-0 up, the Swiss were beaten 7-5 by Austria. Uruguay, meanwhile, dispatched England 4–2. One day later, the favourites Hungary knocked out Brazil 4–2 in one of the most violent matches ever, which became known as the infamous “Battle of Berne”. Three players got sent off and the fighting continued also after the final whistle according to several observers. West Germany, meanwhile, beat Yugoslavia 2–0.
The Swiss and Austrian national teams
Hungary team
In the semi-finals, West Germany demolished Austria 6–1 earning its first World Cup final berth, while Hungary, in one of the most exciting games of the tournament and regarded to be one of the best ever in a World Cup, defeated Uruguay 4-2 after extra time. The match was tied 2-2 after 90 minutes. But Hungary's added class showed in the extra period and Sandor Kocsis scored twice that were enough to put Hungary in its second final. Uruguay finally losing their unbeaten record in World Cup Final matches. So far, Uruguay had participated in two World Cups and won both. The third place match saw the victory of Austria over Uruguay 3-1.
The 1954 FIFA World Cup Final was contested at the WankdorfStadium in Bern at 16.45 on 4 July 1954, before a crowd of 64,000, by the pre-tournament favourite, Hungary, with Sándor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskás, the Galloping Major, and West Germany, a repeat of the first-round match. Never has there been another football match with so many legends and stories attached to this final match between West Germany and Hungary. The wet conditions were not ideal for football and the West German team captain Fritz Walter appeared to play better the worse the weather was. The Germans defeated Hungary 3 to 2, to win their first World Cup title in one of the best and finest final the world have seen. The first few minutes gave the Hungarians' added cause for optimism: the “Magical Magyar” led 2-0 after only 8 minutes. However, the spirit of the German team remained intact. Germans recovered from 0-2 down to record a 3-2 victory over the Hungarians. Hungary had blown their best ever chance to win the title. The match is remembered as The Miracle of Bern, since Hungary was considered the best team of the world and the overwhelming favourites to hoist the World Cup. This was also the first time an unseeded team wins the World Cup.
Hungary had an astonishing record of 5 years and 32 consecutive matches without being defeated. Hungary had beaten England 6-3 at Wembley Stadium a year earlier in one of the most famous contests –It was the first time a team outside the British Islands defeated England at home-, and were the reigning Olympic Champions. “Their speed, ball control and positional play were as near perfect as one could hope to see,” wrote The Guardian after England’s 6-3 home humbling in 1953. In the group stage, Hungary had beaten Germany by a convincing 8-3, although Germany played with seven alternates. These are the main reasons why the results surprised everyone. It should be noted that Ferenc Puskás, the best player in the world of those times, had been injured by the German defender Werner Liebrich when the teams last met. Puskás did not play the following games and only appeared “on one leg” in the final; but he was a shadow of his usual self. Many say that this was the kick that really won the world cup. Brian Glanville in his book, The Story of the World Cup, says that: “Puskás, clearly hampered by his ankle, was unwontedly heavy and slow”.
For the Hungarians definitely was a disaster and remain controversial due to the Puskas' goal disallowed for offside with two minutes remaining and the claim of doping. The Hungarians were surprised by the better physical condition of the Germans in the second half. A research conducted by Guido Knopp in 2004 for German public channel ZDF says that the players were injected with shots of vitamin C at half-time, which would also explain the wave of jaundice among team members following the tournament [1]. Another study from Leipzig University in 2010 stated that the West German players had been injected with the banned substance methamphetamine.
German defender Jupp Posipal: "It still hadn't sunk in when we were stood together listening to the national anthem afterwards. We were all holding hands, such was the deep friendship throughout the entire squad"
Fritz Walter and Ferenc Puskás before the final game
Absolute frequency is a statistical term describing the number of times a particular piece of data, or value, appears during a trial or set of trials. Essentially, it is the number of times a particular thing happens. For example, in this World Cup one player from Hungary scored eleven goals, two scored four goals, one scored three goals, a scored two goals and one player scored one goal. The sum of the absolute frequency represents the number of players that scored at least one goal (7 players in the case of Hungary: 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 7). The sum of the product between the number of times per value results in the number of goals for a team (27 goals in the case of Hungary: 1*11 + 2*4 + 1*3 + 1*1 = 27)
Milestone goals. The goal number 400 in the World Cups history was scored by Max Morlock from West Germany in Zürich on 23 June 1954. Morlock scored the 6-1. West Germany defeated Turkey 7-2.
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This was the first time that a team had won the World Cup after losing a match in the Finals (Hungary defeated West Germany 8-3 in the group stage).
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West Germany scored 25 goals and received only just 14 goals. Both are all-time record for a World Cup winner.
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West Germany scored the most goals scored per game for a champion (4.17), a record that still remains.
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West Germany conceded the most goals for a champion (14), a record that still remains.
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West Germany conceded the most goals per game for a champion (2.33), a record that still remains.
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Hungary scored the most goals in a World Cup (27), a record that still remains.
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Hungary had the highest average goals scored per game (5.4), a record that still remains.
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Hungary had the highest aggregate goal difference (+17), a record that still remains.
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Hungary had the highest average goal difference per game (+3.4), a record that still remains.
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Hungary had the greatest margin of victory in a single game (Hungary 9-0 South Korea) setting a new record.
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The 1954 World Cup was the first World Cup with television coverage. All World Cup matches were broadcast on television.
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Omega was the first sponsor of the World Cup.
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Switzerland took a 3-0 lead over Austria in their quarter-final, but the Austrians recovered to win 7-5. The 12-goal game remains a tournament record.
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South Korea lost two games by a combined 16-0 (Hungary defeated South Korea 9-0, and Turkey defeated South Korea 7-0) and thus becomes one of the worst teams in the history of the world championships.
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South Korea conceded the most goals in a World Cup (16), a record that still remains.
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South Korea had the lowest aggregate goal difference (−16), a record that still remains.
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South Korea conceded the most goals per game (8, tied with Bolivia 1950), a record that still remains.
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South Korea had the lowest average goal difference per game (−8.0, tied with Bolivia 1950), a record that still remains.
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Sándor Kocsis from Hungary scored 11 goals and bettered the previous record set by Ademir from Brazil in the previous tournament by three goals.
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Sandor Kocsis became the first man to score a hat-tricks and a poker in the same World Cup (hat-trick against South Korea, poker against West Germany).
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Hungary defeated Brazil 4-2 in the quarter-finals in one of the most violent matches in the World Cup history, played on 27 June at the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne.
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The first match lost by Uruguay in World Cup history was against Hungary after extra time, 4-2, in the semi-finals. Uruguay had been the champion in the two World Cups it had played (1930 and 1950).
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This was the only time in the World Cups history that a first phase group (Group 4) has consisted entirely of teams from the same continent: England, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium.
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A highly unusual fact was that in the knockout stage four winning teams of the groups played each other to decide one finalist. The other finalists left to face the four second places.
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Stanley Matthews from England was the oldest player in the World Cup finals of 1950 and 1954.
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Obdulio Varela from Uruguay was the oldest scorer player in the World Cup finals of 1950 and 1954.
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The V World Cup required two drawing of lots to determine the first-place team (Uruguay and Brazil) and two playoff games (Switzerland 4-1 Italy and West Germany 7-2 Turkey) to decide the teams that would advance to the knockout stage.
The youngest player was Coşkun Taş from Turkey: 19y (23 April 1935). The youngest goalkeeper was Şükrü Ersoy from Turkey: 20y (14 January 1934). The youngest scorer was Miloš Milutinović from Yugoslavia: 21y (5 February 1933). The youngest champion was Horst Eckel from West Germany: 22y (8 February 1932). The youngest captain was Turgay Şeren from Turkey: 22y (15 May 1932).
26 match officials from 14 countries and 2 confederation were the responsible for enforcing the laws of the game during the course of the 22 World Cup matches.
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The order of the table is based on the matches as referee.
This section presents the statistics of all dissmissals and cautions since the first 1930 FIFA World Cup held in Uruguay. However, the use of red and yellow cards to indicate sent-off and cautions were officially introduced at the 1970 World Cup.
Teams' discipline
Red cards are one of the most remarkable event that can impact the outcome of a game after goals and penalties. The team receiving the red card is in a vulnerable position and faces a significant disadvantage, mainly if it occurs in the first half. The opposing side on the other hand, receives the advantage and the score is more likely to be in their favor.
The top scorer (Golden Shoe) of the tournament wasSándor Kocsis from Hungary, who would go on to score eleven goals. The names that people probably remember from those times are:
Ferenc Puskás, Hungary's team captain, the Galloping Major, considered by many as the best player in the world in that time, was injured by German defender Liebrich, and had to miss the next two matches of his team. Puskás reappeared only in the final against Germany. Though not fully fit, Puskás opened the scoring.
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Ferenc Puskás was born as Ferenc Purczeld in Budapest. However, his father changed the family surname to Puskás when he was ten years old. Puskás became Olympic champion in 1952, was a World Cup finalist in 1954, won three European Championships, and won four Pichichis while playing with Real Madrid.
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There were many controversies in the final match, all of them favoring the German team. There was a clear foul on the Hungarian goalkeeper Gyula Grosics in the second German goal. Another controversy was the offside ruling for Puskás in the minute 87, who had an excellent scoring opportunity. In the final minute, the Hungarian team reclaimed a foul on Kocsis in the penalty area. However, the mother of all disputes concerns the doping charge of the German team. The Hungarians were surprised by the better physical condition of the Germans in the second half. A research conducted by Guido Knopp in 2004 for German public channel ZDF says that the players were injected with shots of vitamin C at half-time, which would also explain the wave of jaundice among team members following the tournament. Another study from Leipzig University in 2010 stated that the West German players had been injected with the banned substance methamphetamine.
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Fritz and Ottmar Walter from West Germany became the first brothers in a winning World Cup side. In the semifinals, they had become the first brothers to score in the same World Cup game.
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The German team were amateurs as there was no professional league there at the time.
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The football world would learn a lesson that is repeated countless times: never, ever, given up for lost the Germans.
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Hungary's Ferenc Puskas and Uruguay's Jose Santamaria both played for Spain at the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
World Cup 1954 poster
Card autographed by coach Sepp Herberger and the 11 German players that appeared in the final
Salk holds two bottles of a culture used to grow the polio vaccines
USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine
