1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

A total of 56 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:
*Europe (UEFA): "11 places", 2 of them went to automatic qualifiers Sweden and 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 12 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

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.

UEFA Group 1

Table

Results

May 22, 1957, Oslo, Norway - fb|NOR 1 - 2 fb|BUL|1946

June 12, 1957, Oslo, Norway - fb|NOR 2 - 1 fb|HUN|1957

June 23, 1957, Budapest, Hungary - fb|HUN|1957 4 - 1 fb|BUL|1946

September 15, 1957, Sofia, Bulgaria - fb|BUL|1946 1 - 2 fb|HUN|1957

November 3, 1957, Sofia, Bulgaria - fb|BUL|1946 7 - 0 fb|NOR

November 10, 1957, Budapest, Hungary - fb|HUN|1957 5 - 0 fb|NOR

UEFA Group 4

Table

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

November 24, 1957, Leipzig, East Germany - fb|URS|1955 2 - 0 fb|POL

USSR qualified.

Results

June 23, 1957, Moscow, USSR - fb|URS|1955 3 - 0 fb|POL

July 5, 1957, Helsinki, Finland - fb|FIN 1 - 3 fb|POL

July 27, 1957, Moscow, USSR - fb|URS|1955 2 - 1 fb|FIN

August 15, 1957, Helsinki, Finland - fb|FIN 0 - 10 fb|URS|1955

October 20, 1957, Chorzow, Poland - fb|POL 2 - 1 fb|URS|1955

November 3, 1957, Warsaw, Poland - fb|POL 4 - 0 fb|FIN

UEFA Group 7

Table

Results

March 10, 1957, Madrid, Spain - fb|ESP|1939 2 - 2 fb|SUI

May 8, 1957, Glasgow, Scotland - fb|SCO 4 - 2 fb|ESP|1939

May 19, 1957, Basel, Switzerland - fb|SUI 1 - 2 fb|SCO

May 26, 1957, Madrid, Spain - fb|ESP|1939 4 - 1 fb|SCO

November 6, 1957, Glasgow, Scotland - fb|SCO 3 - 2 fb|SUI

November 24, 1957, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland - fb|SUI 1 - 4 fb|ESP|1939

outh 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

Venezuela withdrew.

June 16, 1957, Bogotá, Colombia - fb|COL 1 - 1 fb|URU

June 20, 1957, Bogotá, Colombia - fb|COL 2 - 3 fb|PAR

June 30, 1957, Montevideo, Uruguay - fb|URU 1 - 0 fb|COL

July 7, 1957, Asunción, Paraguay - fb|PAR 3 - 0 fb|COL

July 14, 1957, Asunción, Paraguay - fb|PAR 5 - 0 fb|URU

July 28, 1957, Montevideo, Uruguay - fb|URU 2 - 0 fb|PAR

North, Central America and Caribbean

There would be 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 would advance to the Final Round.
*Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

CCCF/NAFC First Round

Group 1

April 7, 1957, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 6 - 0 fb|USA|1912

April 28, 1957, Los Angeles, USA - fb|USA|1912 2 - 7 fb|MEX|1934

June 22, 1957, Toronto, Canada - fb|CAN|1957 5 - 1 fb|USA|1912

June 30, 1957, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 3 - 0 fb|CAN|1957

July 3, 1957, Toronto, Canada - fb|CAN|1957 0 - 2 fb|MEX|1934

July 6, 1957, Saint Louis, USA - fb|USA|1912 2 - 3 fb|CAN|1957

Mexico qualified.

Africa and Asia

FIFA rejected the entries of Ethiopia and Korea Republic. 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

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

CAF / AFC First Round

Group 1

Hong Kong withdraw.

January 15, 1958, Ramat Gan, Israel - fb|ISR 0 - 2 fb|WAL

February 5, 1958, Cardiff, Wales - fb|WAL 2 - 0 fb|ISR

Qualified teams

Notes

*For the first (and as of 2008, only) time, all four UK teams (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) qualified.
*Wales is the only team to qualify after having been eliminated but then reinstated.

Footnotes

ee also

* Conspiracy 58

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1958.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1958 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/58q.html RSSSF - 1958 World Cup Qualification]