The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th 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.
The highest scoring match of a World Cup happened in the Quarterfinals of this tournament, when Austria defeated hosts Switzerland 7-5. The 12 goals of that match has never been surpassed in a World Cup since.
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]
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.
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
The Germany national football team, then limited to the area of West Germany only, had been reinstated as full FIFA members only in late 1950, had played only 18 games since, and were unseeded. When meeting the seeded Turkish side at Wankdorf stadium in Berne, the Turks scored early, but the Germans convincingly won the encounter, which would turn out as the first of two within six days.
The South Koreans, the other unseeded team, lost 7–0 and 9–0 against the seeded sides of Hungary and Turkey. West Germany, being denied the chance to play such an easy opponent, had to face the seeded team of Hungary, a favourite to win the World Cup. Sepp Herberger, the West German coach, did not want his A-squad to suffer a possible defeat against a strong opponent while trying to qualify for a rather meaningless first place, and gambled by going the easier route into the play-offs and sending in a reserve side which lost 8–3 in Basel. A benefit was that the Hungarians did not get to know the best German players in case both teams would meet again - which they did, in the Final, along with referee William Ling. Now two teams were tied for second place at 1-1, and with no tie breaking procedures in effect, even though West Germany had beaten Turkey head-to-head, they had to play-off against each other, a match-up that West Germany easily won for the second time within six days, this time in Zürich.
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.
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, a result of having contracted malaria during the war. Adi Dassler of Adidas provided the West German team with a new kind of shoes, with exchangeable studs that were replaced during halftime.
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 minute and an equaliser by 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 delivered the most famous line in the German 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 William Ling pointed to the centre spot, linesman Griffiths signalled offside. After a one-minute consultation, Ling disallowed the claimed equaliser.
The West Germans were handed the Jules Rimet Trophy as World Cup winners, while the crowd sang along to the tune of the national anthem of Germany–there was disquiet in the stadium as the Germans fans decided to sing the (too) well known anthem's first stanza Deutschland über alles[13], instead of the uncontroversial third Unity and Justice and Freedom which was supposed to be sung at official events according to a 1952 decree. In Germany the success is known as the "Miracle of Bern" (Das Wunder Von Bern), and was memorialised in a 2003 film of the same name. For the Hungarians, the defeat was a disaster, and remains controversial due to apparent refereeing 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 Hans Schäfer obstructed him (in plain sight of TV cameras), allowing the ball to reach Rahn, who then scored. Another controversy concerns allegations of doping. 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. This would explain both the better condition of the West German team in the second half and the wave of jaundice among their players 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] In 2004, North German regional public channel NDR aired unofficial footage appearing to show that Puskás was onside.[17]
The following all-time records were set or equalled at this tournament, and have not been surpassed:
All matches in one tournament
Team records for one tournament
Records for a single game
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 after pitting the backups against Hungary in the group stage with the intention of getting an additional play-off game. This feat was repeated by West Germany in 1974 (beaten 1-0 by East Germans), 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 their first group match 2-1 against Saudi Arabia but would also defeat the Netherlands (although this time, it was in the quarter-finals).
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; South Korea was in the same group, but with both team unseeded, they were not matched against each other. Instead, West Germany had to play Turkey twice, which is geographically more in Asia than in Europe, but qualified from Europe's qualification zone and has always been affiliated with UEFA. Turkey had also been one of the few non-German speaking countries that had played West Germany after being reinstated as FIFA member in late 1950; and like most, did it twice, Switzerland even four times. Thus, West Germany's coach and players had limited international experience in 1954, and no intercontinental game before the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
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 "contract" players from several regional leagues, as German sports did not have a nationwide league nor professional play before 1963, while the Hungarians were de jure amateurs, like in 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.
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.
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.
.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Switzerland_(Pantone).svg.png){kind=small}
Raymon Wyssling.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Wales_(1953%E2%80%931959).svg.png){kind=small}
Benjamin Griffiths
Charlie Faultless.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Spain_(1945%E2%80%931977).svg.png){kind=small}
Manuel Asensi
José Vieira da Costa.svg/1280px-Flag_of_France_(1794%E2%80%931815,_1830%E2%80%931974,_2020%E2%80%93present).svg.png){kind=small}
Raymond Vincenti
William Ling
Esteban Marino Arthur Edward Ellis.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small}
Laurent Franken
Vincenzo Orlandini.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Yugoslavia_(1946-1992).svg.png){kind=small}
Vasa Stefanović.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Brazil_(1889%E2%80%931960).svg.png){kind=small}
Mário Vianna
Emil Schmetzer
Carl Erich Steiner.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Hungary_(1949-1956;_1-2_aspect_ratio).svg.png){kind=small}
István ZsoltAll times listed are local time (CET, UTC+1).
With 11 goals, Sándor Kocsis was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 140 goals were scored by 63 players, with four of them credited as own goals.
Henri Coppens Baltazar Djalma Santos Tom Finney Jimmy Mullen Dennis Wilshaw Raymond Kopa Jean Vincent József Tóth Giampiero Boniperti Amleto Frignani Carlo Galli Benito Lorenzi Fulvio Nesti Egisto Pandolfini.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Mexico_(1934-1968).svg.png){kind=small}
Tomás Balcázar José Luis Lamadrid Jacques Fatton
Mustafa Ertan Erol Keskin Javier Ambrois Obdulio Varela Richard Herrmann Bernhard Klodt Alfred Pfaff Miloš Milutinović Branko Zebec Jimmy Dickinson (playing against Belgium) Raúl Cárdenas (playing against France) Luis Cruz (playing against Austria) Ivica Horvat (playing against West Germany)In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.[25][26] The rankings for the 1954 tournament were as follows:
The final scene of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film The Marriage of Maria Braun takes place during the finals of the 1954 World Cup; in the scene's background, the sports announcer is celebrating West Germany's victory and shouting "Deutschland ist wieder was!" (Germany is something again); the film uses this as the symbol of Germany's recovery from the ravages of the Second World War.
Sönke Wortmann's 2003 German box-office hit The Miracle of Bern (in German: Das Wunder von Bern) re-tells the story of the German team's route to victory through the eyes of a young boy who admires the key player of the final, Helmut Rahn.
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