1954 FIFA World Cup
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The 1954 Football World Cup was held in Switzerland. As the year saw the 50th anniversary of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), it seemed appropriate for football's premier competition to be played in the home of its governing body. The tournament was won by West Germany, who upset Hungary 3-2 in the final. It was Germany's first World Cup victory.
Overview
For the first time there was television coverage, and special coins 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 (called pools): each pool was comprised of two of the eight seeded teams based on World rankings (Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Uruguay) and two unseeded teams. Instead of a conventional round-robin where each team would play three matches, the two seeded teams and the two weakest teams in each pool didn't have to play each other, so each team played only 2 pool matches. Extra time was played in the pool stages for any game that was level in after 90 minutes. The two teams finishing at the top of their pool would go through to the quarter-finals. Goal average was ignored and teams battling for a qualifying spot who were on equal points at the end of the pool stages were required to play-off. Consequently Switzerland and Italy played each other twice with Switzerland winning the play-off 4-1, while West Germany, who were unseeded, had two encounters with the seeded Turkish and beat them convincingly on both occasions. Uruguay and Austria finished the pool stages level on points in the qualifying positions and drew lots to determine who they would play in the next round.The quarter-finals saw the favourites Hungary beat Brazil 4-2 in one of the ugliest matches in football history, which would become infamous as the Battle of Berne. Meanwhile, the World Cup holders Uruguay sent England out of the tournament, also by a scoreline of 4-2. Also, West Germany dispatched Yugoslavia 2-0 and Austria managed to beat the host nation in the game that saw the most goals in any World Cup match, 7-5.
One of the semi-finals produced a score line of 6-1 between West Germany and Austria (with West Germany winning). The other one, the most exciting game 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 Sandor 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.
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. Shortly before the match it had started raining - in Germany this was dubbed "Fritz-Walter-Wetter" (Fritz Walter Weather) because the German team captain Fritz Walter was said to play his best in rainy weather. The Final saw the legendary Ferenc Puskás playing even though he was not fully fit. Despite this he put his team ahead after only 6 minutes, and with Zoltan Czibor adding another two minutes later it seemed destined that the pre-tournament favourites would take the title.
However with goals from Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn before half time the tide began to turn. The second half saw telling misses from the Hungarian team, a second goal from Rahn, and a disallowed goal from Puskás with 2 minutes left. When Rahn scored his second goal barely 6 minutes before the end of the match the popular German reporter Herbert Zimmermann gave the most famous German piece of commentary while the Hungarian reporter, Gyorgy Szepesi burst into tears. In Germany the success is known as The Miracle of Bern, upon which a 2003 film of the same name was based. The distraught Hungarians were ushered away by the referee and with a final blow of the whistle West Germany were handed both the Jules Rimet trophy and the title of World Cup Winners.
The 11 goals scored by Kocsis of Hungary not only led the World Cup, but bettered the old record by three.
Qualification
See 1954 FIFA World Cup (qualification).Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1954 FIFA World Cup squadsFirst round
Pool 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 |
Pool 2
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hungary
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 3 |
West Germany | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
Turkey | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
Korea Republic | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
Play-off:
Pool 3
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Uruguay | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
Austria | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Czechoslovakia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
Scotland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Pool 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 |
Play-off:
Knockout stages
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Awards
| 1954 World Cup Winners: |
|---|
|
WEST GERMANY First title |