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1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

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1958 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Dates30 September 1956 - 5 February 1958
Teams55 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played89
Goals scored341 (3.83 per match)
Top scorer(s)England Tommy Taylor (8 goals)
← 1954
1962 →

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 organisation 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 organised 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:

  • Europe (UEFA): 11 places, 2 of them went to automatic qualifiers Sweden and West Germany, while the other 9 places were contested by 27 teams.
  • South America (CONMEBOL): 3 places, contested by 9 teams.
  • North, Central America and Caribbean (NAFC/CCCF): 1 place, contested by 6 teams.
  • Africa (CAF) and Asia (AFC): 1 place, contested by 11 teams (including Israel, Cyprus and Turkey).

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

Main article: 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

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 would qualify.

Denmark, East Germany, Iceland and the Soviet Union made their debuts in World Cup qualification.

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  England 4 7
2  Republic of Ireland 4 5
3  Denmark 4 0
Source: FIFA[1]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  France 4 7
2  Belgium 4 5
3  Iceland 4 0
Source: FIFA[2]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Hungary 4 6
2  Bulgaria 4 4
3  Norway 4 2
Source: FIFA[3]
Group 4 Group 5 Group 6
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Czechoslovakia 4 6
2  Wales 4 4
3  East Germany 4 2
Source: FIFA[4]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Austria 4 7
2  Netherlands 4 5
3  Luxembourg 4 0
Source: FIFA[5]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Soviet Union 4 6
2  Poland 4 6
3  Finland 4 0
Source: FIFA[6]
Group 7 Group 8 Group 9
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Yugoslavia 4 6
2  Romania 4 5
3  Greece 4 1
Source: FIFA[7]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Northern Ireland 4 5
2  Italy 4 4
3  Portugal 4 3
Source: FIFA[8]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Scotland 4 6
2  Spain 4 5
3   Switzerland 4 1
Source: FIFA[9]

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.

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Brazil 2 3
2  Peru 2 1
Source: FIFA[10]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Argentina 4 6
2  Bolivia 4 4
3  Chile 4 2
Source: FIFA[11]
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Paraguay 4 6
2  Uruguay 4 5
3  Colombia 4 1
Source: FIFA[12]

North, Central America and Caribbean

Main article: 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (North, Central America and Caribbean)

There were two rounds of play:

  • First Round: The 6 teams were divided into 2 groups with 3 teams each (Group 1 with teams from North America and Group 2 with teams from Central America and Caribbean). The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners advanced to the Final Round.
  • Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner qualified.

CCCF / NAFC First Round

Group 1

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Qualification
1  Mexico 4 4 0 0 18 2 9.000 8 Qualification to final round — 3–0 6–0
2  Canada 4 2 0 2 8 8 1.000 4 0–2 — 5–1
3  United States 4 0 0 4 5 21 0.238 0 2–7 2–3 —
Source: [citation needed]

Group 2

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Qualification
1  Costa Rica 4 4 0 0 18 2 9.000 8 Qualification to final round — 4–0 3–1
2  Curaçao 4 2 0 2 8 8 1.000 4 1–2 — NP
3  Guatemala 4 0 0 4 5 21 0.238 0 2–6 1–3 —
Source: [citation needed]

CCCF / NAFC Final Round

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Mexico Costa Rica
1  Mexico 2 1 1 0 3 1 +2 3 Qualification to 1958 FIFA World Cup — 2–0
2  Costa Rica 2 0 1 1 1 3 −2 1 1–1 —
Source: FIFA

Africa and Asia

AFC Asian Qualifiers
FIFA World Cup
AFC Asian Cup

FIFA rejected the entries of Ethiopia and South Korea.[13] 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
1=  China advanced
—  Republic of China withdrew

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

CAF / AFC First Round

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Indonesia 2 1 0 1 5 4 +1 2
 China 2 1 0 1 4 5 −1 2
Source: [citation needed]
Indonesia 2–0 China
Ramang 47', 80'
Referee: Jonni (Italy)
China 4–3 Indonesia
Zhang Honggen 1'
Nian Weisi 9'
Sun Fucheng 47'
Wang Lu 75'		 Ramang 25', 55'
Witarsa 70'
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.

Indonesia 0–0
(a.e.t.)		 China
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

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Sudan 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 3
 Syria 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1 1
Source: [citation needed]
8 March 1957 Sudan  1–0  Syria Khartoum, Sudan
Manzul 78' (pen.) Stadium: Khartoum Stadium
Referee: Riccardo Pieri (Italy)
24 May 1957 Syria  1–1  Sudan Damascus, Syria
Al-Zarqa 70' Suleiman Faris 38' Stadium: Abbasiyyin Stadium
Referee: Konstantinos Ioannidis (Greece)

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 because of the Arab League boycott of Israel, so Israel would technically qualify automatically, but before the qualification rounds began, FIFA had 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.

Inter-confederation play-offs: CAF/AFC v UEFA

Main article: 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF/AFC–UEFA play-off)

A special play-off was created between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA/CONMEBOL/CCCF/NAFC Groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying. Two-time champions Uruguay withdrew, while Northern Ireland and Italy had one final match yet to play, so all three were left out. Belgium, Bulgaria, Wales, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Peru, Bolivia and Costa Rica were left to draw. After Belgium refused, Wales, the runner-up of UEFA Group 4, was the team drawn from the UEFA group runners-up.[14]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Wales Israel
1  Wales 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 4 Qualification to 1958 FIFA World Cup — 2–0
2  Israel 2 0 0 2 0 4 −4 0 0–2 —
Source: FIFA

Qualified teams

Qualifying countries
Team Date of qualification Finals appearance Streak Last appearance
 Argentina 27 October 1957 3rd 1 1934
 Austria 29 September 1957 3rd 2 1954
 Brazil 21 April 1957 6th 6 1954
 Czechoslovakia 27 October 1957 4th 2 1954
 England 19 May 1957 3rd 3 1954
 France 27 October 1957 5th 2 1954
 Hungary 10 November 1957 4th 2 1954
 Mexico 27 October 1957 4th 3 1954
 Northern Ireland 15 January 1958 1st 1 —
 Paraguay 14 July 1957 3rd 1 1950
 Scotland 6 November 1957 2nd 2 1954
 Sweden (Hosts) 23 June 1950 4th 1 1950
 Soviet Union 24 November 1957 1st 1 —
 Wales 5 February 1958 1st 1 —
 West Germany (Defending Champions) 4 July 1954 4th 2 1954
 Yugoslavia 17 November 1957 4th 3 1954

Goalscorers

8 goals
7 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

See also

Notes

  • Wales is the only team to ever qualify after having been eliminated and then reinstated. Their qualification meant that all four Home Nations qualified, and that no team from the separate African and Asian zone qualified. This remains Wales' only appearance in the finals; they have never qualified through the European zone.
  • Italy were eliminated in qualifying for the first time. They would not fail again until 2018.
  • Two-time former champions Uruguay, who in their three previous appearances had always benefited from direct qualifications or withdrawals, now failed in what was the first time they actually had to play qualifying games.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  3. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  4. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  5. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  6. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  7. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  8. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  9. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  10. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  11. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  12. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries". FIFA. 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  13. ^ "FIFA Fact Sheet: History of the FIFA World Cup (TM) Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  14. ^ Doyle, Paul. "The Joy of Six: international football play-offs". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
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