Austria v Switzerland (1954 FIFA World Cup)

1954 FIFA World Cup
Quarter-final
Date 26 June 1954 (1954-06-26)
Venue La Pontaise, Lausanne
Referee Charlie Faultless (Scotland)
Attendance 35,000
Weather 40°C (104°F)

On June 26, 1954, in a quarterfinal match of the 1954 Football World Cup, Austria beat Switzerland 7–5 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 12 goals scored in the match set a World Cup record, unequalled to date, for the highest scoring match ever. The match is known by its German name, Hitzeschlacht von Lausanne (roughly translated to "The heat battle of Lausanne"), due to the high temperature that it was played under, 40°C (104°F).

Match chronicle

Switzerland, the tournament hosts, took a notable lead early on. In four minutes, the Swiss scored three goals: Forward Robert Ballaman opened the score at the 16th minute, followed quickly by two goals by Josef Hügi. Austria then became the first team in World Cup history to recover from a 3–0 deficit, scoring 5 goals in the remainder of the first half; Theodor Wagner initiated the Austrian response at the 25th minute; forward Robert Körner[1] drew the score to 2–3 one minute later, and another minute later Wagner equalized to 3–3. Austria had tied the score in three minutes. In 11 minutes, between the 16th and the 27th minutes, six goals were scored, three by each team. At the 32nd minute, Ernst Ocwirk gave Austria the lead; Robert Körner added his second, making the score 5–3. Ballaman scored again for Switzerland at the 39th minute. The first half thus ended 5–4 in favour of Austria, being the highest scoring half in World Cup history, even after inside left Alfred Körner had missed a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.[2]

Nine minutes into the second half, Wagner put Austria up 6–4 with his third goal, recording the seventh hat-trick of the 1954 World Cup (See List of World Cup hat-tricks). Hügi would then emulate the feat, scoring his third at the 58th minute. Switzerland was not able to equalize, and Erich Probst made it 7–5 to end the scoring at the 76th minute. According to FIFA, the extreme heat adversely affected Switzerland[3] after they led the match 3–0 at one point. Other sources add that at first, Switzerland had been able to take advantage of the temperature, when Austrian goalkeeper Kurt Schmied suffered from hyperthermia early in the match, quickly allowing the first three Swiss goals, before being assisted by the Austrian masseur while in play.

Match details

26 June 1954
17:00 CET
Austria  7–5   Switzerland
Wagner  25', 27', 53'
A. Körner  26', 34'
Ocwirk  32'
Probst  76'
Report Ballaman  16', 39'
Hügi  17', 19', 58'
Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Charlie Faultless (Scotland)
GK 1Kurt Schmied
DF 2Gerhard Hanappi
DF 4 Leopold Barschandt
DF 5 Ernst Ocwirk (c)
MF 3Ernst Happel
MF 6 Karl Koller
MF 10 Erich Probst
FW 9 Theodor Wagner
FW 11Alfred Körner
FW 21Ernst Stojaspal
FW 7Robert Körner
Manager:
Walter Nausch
GK 2 Eugene Parlier
DF 7 André Neury
DF 14 Willy Kernen
DF 10 Oliver Eggimann
MF 4Roger Bocquet (c)
MF 9 Charles Casali
FW 15Charles Antenen
FW 22Roger Vonlanthen
FW 18Josef Hügi
FW 16Robert Ballaman
FW 17 Jacques Fatton
Manager:
Austria Karl Rappan


Assistant referees:
Emil Schmetzer (West Germany)
Manuel Asensi (Spain)

References and footnotes

  1. According to the official match report by FIFA, Robert Körner scored the second and fifth Austrian goals, but most sources not related to FIFA, including RSSSF(), (German) SportZeitung (), ESPN() and the BBC(), state that Robert's younger brother, Alfred, scored those goals. The RSSSF page also states that Alfred Körner took and missed a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.
  2. World Cup 1954 full details – by Gwidon S. Naskrent et al., RSSSF. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
  3. World Cup Switzerland 1954 overview – "Did you know?" – fifaworldcup.yahoo.com – FIFA. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
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