1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

1958 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Teams 55 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 89
Goals scored 341 (3.83 per match)

A total of 55 teams entered the 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Sweden as the hosts and West Germany, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

The qualification rounds for the four previous World Cups were very confusing, with controversial rules and many withdrawals. From this tournament onwards, FIFA decided to divide the teams into several continental zones, assign a pre-determined number of places in the final tournament to each zone, and delegate the organization of the qualifying tournaments to its confederations: UEFA of Europe, CONMEBOL of South America, NAFC of North America, CCCF of Central America and Caribbean, CAF of Africa and AFC of Asia (and OFC of Oceania after it was formed later). This led to a more organized qualification process with clearer rules, but not yet withdrawal-proof.

The 16 spots available in the 1958 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:

However, FIFA also imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match because many teams qualified for previous World Cups without playing due to withdrawals of their opponents. Because Israel won the African and Asian zone under this circumstance, FIFA required them to enter a play-off against a team from Europe who initially did not qualify, with the winner of this play-off qualifying. Therefore, effectively in the end, a total of 11.5 places were granted to Europe while only 0.5 places were granted to Africa and Asia.

A total of 46 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 89 qualifying matches were played, and 341 goals were scored (an average of 3.83 per match).

Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.

Europe

The 27 teams were divided into 9 groups, each featuring 3 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners qualified. The Soviet Union and Iceland took part for the first time.

UEFA Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  England 743101553.00
2  Republic of Ireland 54211670.86
3  Denmark 040044130.31

England qualified.

UEFA Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  France 743101944.75
2  Belgium 5421116111.45
3  Iceland 040046260.23

France qualified.

UEFA Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Hungary 643011243.00
2  Bulgaria 442021171.57
3  Norway 241033150.20

Hungary qualified.

UEFA Group 4

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Czechoslovakia 64301933.00
2  Wales 44202651.20
3  East Germany 241035120.42

Czechoslovakia qualified. Wales received another chance to qualify after being drawn to play against Israel in a special play-off; see CAF / AFC Final Round and Play-off.

UEFA Group 5

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Austria 743101434.67
2  Netherlands 542111271.71
3  Luxembourg 040043190.16

Austria qualified.

UEFA Group 6

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1=  Soviet Union 643011635.33
1=  Poland 64301951.80
3  Finland 040042190.11

Poland and USSR finished level on points, a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

USSR qualified.

UEFA Group 7

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Yugoslavia 64220723.50
2  Romania 54211641.50
3  Greece 14013290.22

Yugoslavia qualified.

UEFA Group 8

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Northern Ireland 54211632.00
2  Italy 44202551.00
3  Portugal 34112470.57

The 15 January 1958 fixture of Italy at Northern Ireland was originally scheduled for 4 December 1957 but heavy fog in London prevented the referee (Istvan Zolt, manager of the Budapest Opera House) from arriving for the match in time. The fixture was postponed but the match continued as a friendly... and ended in a 2-2 draw and a riot as the crowd (infuriated by the postponement and quite rough play from some Italian players) invaded the pitch. The 'friendly' match was dubbed the 'Battle of Belfast'.[1] Danny Blanchflower, Northern Ireland captain at the time, helped save the situation by ordering his players to escort their Italian counterparts off the field while the police dealt with the crowd.[2]

Northern Ireland qualified.

This was the only time that Italy failed to qualify.

UEFA Group 9

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GAv
1  Scotland 643011091.11
2  Spain 542111281.50
3   Switzerland 140136110.55

Scotland qualified.

South America

The 9 teams were divided into 3 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

CONMEBOL Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Brazil 3211021
2  Peru 1201112
—  Venezuela withdrew

Brazil qualified.

CONMEBOL Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Argentina 64301102
2  Bolivia 4420266
3  Chile 24103210

Argentina qualified.

CONMEBOL Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Paraguay 64301114
2  Uruguay 5421146
3  Colombia 1401338

Paraguay qualified.

North, Central America and Caribbean

There would be two rounds of play:

CCCF/NAFC First Round

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Mexico 84400182
2  Canada 4420288
3  United States 04004521

Mexico advanced to the Final Round.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Costa Rica 84400154
2 Netherlands Territory of Curaçao 2310247
3  Guatemala 03003412

Costa Rica advanced to the Final Round. Territory of Curaçao v Guatemala was not played because the Guatemalan players were not permitted to travel to the Netherlands Antilles (the Netherlands Antilles were still using the nation's former "Curaçao" name).[6] However, neither team would have been able to advance with a win regardless.

CCCF/NAFC Final Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Mexico 3211031
2  Costa Rica 1201113

Mexico qualified.

Africa and Asia

FIFA rejected the entries of Ethiopia and South Korea.[2] The remaining 10 teams played in a knockout tournament, with matches on a home-and-away basis. The tournament winner would qualify.

CAF / AFC Preliminary Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Indonesia advanced
—  Republic of China withdrew

Republic of China withdrew, so Indonesia advanced to the First Round automatically.

CAF / AFC First Round

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Ave
1=  Indonesia 22101541.25
1=  China PR 22101450.8
—  Australia withdrew

12 May 1957
Indonesia  2 – 0  China PR
Ramang  47', 80'
Ikada Stadium, Jakarta
Referee: Jonni (Italy)

2 June 1957
China PR  4 – 3  Indonesia
Zhang Honggen  1'
Nian Weisi  9'
Sun Fucheng  47'
Wang Lu  75' 		Ramang  25', 55'
Witarsa  70'
Xiannongtan Stadium, Beijing
Referee: Chakravarti (India)

China PR and Indonesia finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Second Round.

23 June 1957
Indonesia  0 – 0
(a.e.t.) 		 China PR
Aung San Stadium, Rangoon, Burma
Referee: U Ba Thaung (Burma)

Indonesia advanced to the Second Round by having a better goal average. (Penalty shootouts had not been invented.)

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Israel advanced
—  Turkey withdrew

Turkey refused to compete in the Asian group, so Israel advanced to the Second Round automatically.

Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Egypt advanced
—  Cyprus withdrew

Cyprus withdrew, so Egypt advanced to the Second Round automatically.

Group 4

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Sudan 3211021
2  Syria 1201112

Sudan advanced.

CAF / AFC Second Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1=  Israel advanced
1=  Sudan advanced
—  Egypt withdrew
—  Indonesia withdrew

Indonesia withdrew after FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground. Israel advanced to the Final Round automatically. Egypt withdrew, so Sudan advanced to the Final Round automatically.

CAF / AFC Final Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Israel advanced
—  Sudan withdrew

Sudan refused to play against Israel for political reasons, so Israel would technically qualify automatically, but before the qualification rounds began, FIFA ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), and Israel had yet to play any.

UEFA / AFC Play-off

So a special play-off was created between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA Groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying. After Belgium refused, Wales, the runner-up of UEFA Group 4, was the team drawn from the UEFA group runners-up.[7]

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA
1  Wales 4220040
2  Israel 0200204

Wales qualified.

Qualified teams

FIFA World Cup qualification 1958
Qualifying countries
Team Finals Appearance Streak Last Appearance
 Argentina 3rd11934
 Austria 3rd21954
 Brazil 6th61954
 Czechoslovakia 4th21954
 England 3rd31954
 France 5th21954
 Hungary 4th21954
 Mexico 4th31954
 Northern Ireland 1st1–
 Paraguay 3rd11950
 Scotland 2nd21954
 Sweden[8] 4th11950
 Soviet Union 1st1–
 Wales 1st1–
 West Germany[9] 4th21954
 Yugoslavia 4th31954

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment - International, Football". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  2. 1 2 "FIFA Fact Sheet: History of the FIFA World Cup (TM) Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA. 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  3. ↑ Entire US squad pulled from St. Louis Kutis
  4. ↑ Entire US squad pulled from St. Louis Kutis
  5. ↑ Match interrupted in the 66th minute by Guatemala abandoning the pitch; the result was later affirmed.
  6. ↑ "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (pdf). FIFA.com. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Doyle, Paul. "The Joy of Six: international football play-offs". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Qualified automatically as hosts
  9. ↑ Qualified automatically as defending champions

See also

External links

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