1954 FIFA World Cup

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1954 FIFA World Cup FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 1954 Schweiz, Championnat du Monde de Football 1954
Tournament details
Host country	Switzerland
Dates	June 16 – July 4
Teams	16 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	West Germany (1st title)
Second place	Hungary
Third place	Austria
Fourth place	Uruguay
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	140  (5.38 per match)
Attendance	889,500  (34,212 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sándor Kocsis (11 goals)

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 defeated Hungary 3-2 in the final, giving them their first title.

Contents 1 Qualification 2 Summary 2.1 Final: "The Miracle of Bern" 3 Venues 4 Squads 5 Results 5.1 First round 5.1.1 Group 1 5.1.2 Group 2 5.1.2.1 Play-off 5.1.3 Group 3 5.1.4 Group 4 5.1.4.1 Play-off 5.2 Knockout stage 5.2.1 Quarter-finals 5.2.2 Semi-finals 5.2.3 Third place match 5.2.4 Final 6 Awards 7 Scorers 8 In Film 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Qualification

Main article: 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification

[edit] 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.

With seeding determined before the teams had even qualified for the final tournament, the organizers had to replace Spain with Turkey, the team that unexpectedly knocked the Spaniards out. ^[1] The draw took place in Zürich, on November 30, 1953.

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. Hungary's team captain Ferenc Puskás, considered by many as the best player in the world in that time, was injured by German defender Werner Liebrich, and had to miss the next two matches of his team, only to show up in the final again, still being in a questionable condition. ^[2]

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.

[edit] 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 play-off 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.

The final saw Hungary's Ferenc Puskás playing again 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. While referee Ling pointed to the centre spot, linesman Griffiths signalled offside. After a one-minute consultation, referee Ling disallowed the claimed equalizer.

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, and remains controversial due to referee erros and claims of doping.

One controversy concerns the 2-2. Hungarian goalie Gyula Grosics jumped to catch Fritz Walter's corner shot, but in plain sight of the camera, Hans Schäfer hindered him, thus the ball could reach Rahn unhindered. The second controversy concerns allegations of doping to explain the better condition of the 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^[3] that they players were injected with shots of C vitamine in 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.

Most controversial was the offside ruling for Puskás's intended 87th minute equalizer. The camera filming the official footage was in a bad position to judge the situation, only eyewitnesses claimed that the referee was wrong, including German replacement player Alfred Pfaff^[4]. However, since then, footage evidencing no offside surfaced (shown on North German regional public channel NDR in 2004^[5]).

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. Kocsis' mark was then broken by Just Fontaine's 13 goals in 1958. Despite not winning the 1954 tournament, the 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 result against Korea during the group stages remains to this day the biggest margin of victory in FIFA World Cup history, later equalled by Yugoslavia winning 9-0 against Zaire in 1974 and again Hungary winning 10-1 against El Salvador in 1982.

[edit] 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

[edit] Squads

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

[edit] Results

[edit] First round

[edit] Group 1

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

1954-06-16 18:00	Brazil	5 – 0	Mexico	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)
	Baltazar  23' Didi  30' Pinga  34'  43' Julinho  69'	(Report)

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1954-06-16 18:00	Yugoslavia	1 – 0	France	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Griffiths (Wales)
	Milutinović  15'	(Report)

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1954-06-19 17:00	Brazil	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Faultless (Scotland)
	Didi  69'	(Report)	Zebec  48'

---

1954-06-19 17:10	France	3 – 2	Mexico	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Attendance: 19,000 Referee: Asensi (Spain)
	Vincent  19' Cárdenas  49' (o.g.) Kopa  88' (pen.)	(Report)	Lamadrid  54' Balcázar  85'

[edit] Group 2

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

1954-06-17 18:00	West Germany	4 – 1	Turkey	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Attendance: 39,000 Referee: Da Costa Vieira (Portugal)
	Schäfer  14' Klodt  52' O. Walter  60' Morlock  84'	(Report)	Suat  2'

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1954-06-17 18:00	Hungary	9 – 0	Korea Republic	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Vincenti (France)
	Puskás  12'  89' Lantos  18' Kocsis  24'  36'  50' Czibor  59' Palotás  75'  83'	(Report)

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1954-06-20 16:50	Hungary	8 – 3	West Germany	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Ling (England)
	Kocsis  3'  21'  67'  78' Puskás  17' Hidegkuti  50'  54' J. Tóth  73'	(Report)	Pfaff  25' Rahn  77' Herrmann  81'

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1954-06-20 17:00	Turkey	7 – 0	Korea Republic	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Marino (Uruguay)
	Suat  10'  30' Lefter  24' Burhan  37'  64'  70' Erol  76'	(Report)

[edit] Play-off

1954-06-23 18:00	West Germany	7 – 2	Turkey	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Vincenti (France)
	O. Walter  7' Schäfer  12'  79' Morlock  30'  60'  77' F. Walter  62'	(Report)	Mustafa  21' Lefter  82'

[edit] Group 3

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

1954-06-16 18:00	Uruguay	2 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Attendance: 20,500 Referee: Ellis (England)
	Míguez  72' Schiaffino  81'	(Report)

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1954-06-16 18:00	Austria	1 – 0	Scotland	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Franken (Belgium)
	Probst  33'	(Report)

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1954-06-19 16:50	Uruguay	7 – 0	Scotland	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 43,000 Referee: Orlandini (Italy)
	Borges  17'  47'  57' Míguez  30'  83' Abbadie  54'  85'	(Report)

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1954-06-19 17:00	Austria	5 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Stefanovic (Yugoslavia)
	Stojaspal  3'  70' Probst  4'  21'  24'	(Report)

[edit] Group 4

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

1954-06-17 17:50	Switzerland	2 – 1	Italy	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Attendance: 43,000 Referee: Viana (Brazil)
	Ballaman  18' Hügi  78'	(Report)	Boniperti  44'

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1954-06-17 18:10	England	4 – 4 (a.e.t.)	Belgium	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Schmetzer (West Germany)
	Broadis  26'  63' Lofthouse  36'  91'	(Report)	Anoul  5'  71' Coppens  67' Dickinson  94' (o.g.)

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1954-06-20 17:00	Italy	4 – 1	Belgium	Lugano, Cornaredo Stadium Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Steiner (Austria)
	Pandolfini  41' (pen.) Galli  48' Frignani  58' Lorenzi  78'	(Report)	Anoul  81'

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1954-06-20 17:10	England	2 – 0	Switzerland	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Zsolt (Hungary)
	Mullen  43' Wilshaw  69'	(Report)

[edit] Play-off

1954-06-23 18:00	Switzerland	4 – 1	Italy	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Griffiths (Wales)
	Hügi  14'  85' Ballaman  48' Fatton  90'	(Report)	Nesti  67'

[edit] Knockout stage

	Quarter finals				Semi finals				Final
	27 June - Bern
	Brazil	2
					30 June – Lausanne
	Hungary	4
					Hungary (aet)	4
	26 June - Basel
					Uruguay	2
	Uruguay	4
									4 July – Bern
	England	2
									Hungary	2
	27 June – Geneva
									West Germany	3
	Yugoslavia	0
					30 June - Basel
	West Germany	2
					West Germany	6			Third place
	26 June - Lausanne
					Austria	1
	Austria	7							Uruguay	1
	Switzerland	5							Austria	3
									3 July - Zürich

[edit] Quarter-finals

1954-06-26 17:00	Austria	7 – 5	Switzerland	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Faultless (Scotland)
	Wagner  25'  27'  53' A. Körner  26'  34' Ocwirk  32' Probst  76'	(Report)	Ballaman  16'  39' Hügi  17'  19'  58'

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1954-06-26 17:00	Uruguay	4 – 2	England	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Steiner (Austria)
	Borges  5' Varela  39' Schiaffino  46' Ambrois  78'	(Report)	Lofthouse  16' Finney  67'

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1954-06-27 17:00	Brazil	2 – 4	Hungary	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Ellis (England)
	Djalma Santos  18' (pen.) Julinho  65'	(Report)	Hidegkuti  4' Kocsis  7'  88' Lantos  60' (pen.)

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1954-06-27 17:00	Yugoslavia	0 – 2	West Germany	Geneva, Charmilles Stadium Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Zsolt (Hungary)
		(Report)	Horvat  9' (o.g.) Rahn  85'

[edit] Semi-finals

1954-06-30 18:00	Hungary	4 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Uruguay	Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise Attendance: 37,000 Referee: Griffiths (Wales)
	Czibor  13' Hidegkuti  46' Kocsis  111'  116'	(Report)	Hohberg  75'  86'

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1954-06-30 18:00	West Germany	6 – 1	Austria	Basel, St. Jakob Stadium Attendance: 58,000 Referee: Orlandini (Italy)
	Schäfer  31' Morlock  47' F. Walter  54' (pen.)  64' (pen.) O. Walter  61'  89'	(Report)	Probst  51'

[edit] Third place match

1954-07-03 17:00	Uruguay	1 – 3	Austria	Zürich, Hardturm Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)
	Hohberg  22'	(Report)	Stojaspal  16' (pen.) Cruz  59' (o.g.) Ocwirk  89'

[edit] Final

Main article: 1954 FIFA World Cup Final

1954-07-04 17:00	Hungary	2 – 3	West Germany	Berne, Wankdorf Stadium Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Ling (England)
	Puskás  6' Czibor  8'	(Report)	Morlock  10' Rahn  18'  84'

[edit] Awards

1954 FIFA World Cup Winners
West Germany First title

[edit] Scorers

11 goals Sándor Kocsis 6 goals Erich Probst Max Morlock Josef Hügi 4 goals Helmut Rahn Hans Schäfer Ottmar Walter Nándor Hidegkuti Ferenc Puskás Robert Ballaman Carlos Borges Own goals Jimmy Dickinson (for Belgium) Raúl Cárdenas (for France) Luis Cruz (for Austria) Ivan Horvat (for Germany)

3 goals Ernst Stojaspal Theodor Wagner Léopold Anoul Nat Lofthouse Fritz Walter Zoltán Czibor Burhan Sargın Suat Mamat Juan Hohberg Oscar Míguez 2 goals Robert Körner Ernst Ocwirk Didi Julinho Pinga Ivor Broadis Mihály Lantos Péter Palotás Lefter Küçükandonyadis Julio Abbadie Juan Alberto Schiaffino

1 goal Henri Coppens Baltazar Djalma Santos Tom Finney Jimmy Mullen Dennis Wilshaw Raymond Kopa Jean Vincent Richard Herrmann Bernhard Klodt Alfred Pfaff József Tóth Giampiero Boniperti Amleto Frignani Carlo Galli Benito Lorenzi Fulvio Nesti Egisto Pandolfini Tomás Balcázar José Luis Lamadrid Jacques Fatton Mustafa Ertan Erol Keskin Javier Ambrois Obdulio Varela Miloš Milutinović Branko Zebec

[edit] In Film

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 backgoround, the sports announcer is celebrating West Germany's victory and shouting "Deutschland ist wieder was!" (Germany is something again) - which the film uses as the symbol of Germany's recovery from the ravages of WWII.

Söhnke 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.

[edit] References

1. ^ History of the World Cup Final Draw
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Das Wunder von Bern - Die wahre Geschichte
4. ^ Ewiger Knaben Wunderhorn (DER SPIEGEL, 18/2004)
5. ^ Das Trauma von Bern: Die unbekannte Seite des legendären Endspiels

[edit] External links

• 1954 FIFA World Cup on FIFA.com
• Details at RSSSF
• History of the World Cup-1954

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