1954 FIFA World Cup

Infobox International Football Competition
tourney_name = FIFA World Cup
year = 1954
other_titles = FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 1954 Schweizde icon
Championnat du Monde de Football 1954fr icon


size = 150px
caption = 1954 FIFA World Cup official logo
country = Switzerland
dates = June 16 – July 4
confederations = 4
num_teams = 16
venues = 6
cities = 6
champion = West Germany
count = 1
second = Hungary
second-flagvar = 1949
third = Austria
fourth = Uruguay
matches = 26
goals = 140
attendance = 889500
top_scorer = flagicon|HUN|1949 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.

Qualification

ummary

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. .

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. [ [http://www.ifhof.com/hof/puskas.asp FERENC PUSKAS - International Football Hall of Fame ] ]

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.

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 errors 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 obstructed 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 [ [http://www.broadview.tv/Das-Wunder-von-Bern-Die-wahre-Geschichte.63.0.html Das Wunder von Bern - Die wahre Geschichte] ] that the 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 [ [http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=30612555&top=SPIEGEL Ewiger Knaben Wunderhorn] (DER SPIEGEL, 18/2004)] . However, since then, footage evidencing no offside surfaced (shown on North German regional public channel NDR in 2004 [ [http://www.ndrtv.de/kulturreport/traumavonbern.html Das Trauma von Bern: Die unbekannte Seite des legendären Endspiels] ] ).

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.

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

quads

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

Results

First round

Group 1

footballbox
date = 1954-06-16
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 2 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1315/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|TCH
goals1 = Míguez goal|72
Schiaffino goal|81
goals2 =
stadium = Berne, Wankdorf Stadium
attendance = 20,500
referee = Ellis (England) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-16
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|AUT
score = 1 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1236/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = Probst goal|33
goals2 =
stadium = Zürich, Hardturm Stadium
attendance = 30,000
referee = Franken (Belgium) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-19
time = 16:50
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 7 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1313/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = Borges goal|17 goal|47 goal|57
Míguez goal|30 goal|83
Abbadie goal|54 goal|85
goals2 =
stadium = Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
attendance = 43,000
referee = Orlandini (Italy) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-19
time = 17:00
team1 = fb-rt|AUT
score = 5 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1238/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|TCH
goals1 = Stojaspal goal|3 goal|70
Probst goal|4 goal|21 goal|24
goals2 =
stadium = Zürich, Hardturm Stadium
attendance = 25,000
referee = Stefanovic (Yugoslavia)

Group 4

footballbox
date = 1954-06-17
time = 17:50
team1 = fb-rt|SUI
score = 2 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1300/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 = Ballaman goal|18
Hügi goal|78
goals2 = Boniperti goal|44
stadium = Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
attendance = 43,000
referee = Viana (Brazil) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-17
time = 18:10
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 4 – 4 (a.e.t.)
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1240/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|BEL
goals1 = Broadis goal|26 goal|63
Lofthouse goal|36 goal|91
goals2 = Anoul goal|5 goal|71
Coppens goal|67
Dickinson goal|94|o.g.
stadium = Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
attendance = 40,000
referee = Schmetzer (West Germany) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-20
time = 17:00
team1 = fb-rt|ITA
score = 4 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1243/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|BEL
goals1 = Pandolfini goal|41|pen.
Galli goal|48
Frignani goal|58
Lorenzi goal|78
goals2 = Anoul goal|81
stadium = Lugano, Cornaredo Stadium
attendance = 26,000
referee = Steiner (Austria) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-20
time = 17:10
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 2 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1263/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SUI
goals1 = Mullen goal|43
Wilshaw goal|69
goals2 =
stadium = Berne, Wankdorf Stadium
attendance = 50,000
referee = Zsolt (Hungary)

Play-off

footballbox
date = 1954-06-23
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|SUI
score = 4 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1301/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 = Hügi goal|14 goal|85
Ballaman goal|48
Fatton goal|90
goals2 = Nesti goal|67
stadium = Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
attendance = 30,000
referee = Griffiths (Wales)

Knockout stage

Round8-with third
27 June - Bern|fb|BRA|1889|2|fb|HUN|1949|4
26 June - Basel|fb|URU|4|fb|ENG|2
27 June – Geneva|fb|YUG|0|fb|FRG|2
26 June - Lausanne|fb|AUT|7|fb|SUI|5
30 June – Lausanne|fb|HUN|1949 (aet)|4|fb|URU|2
30 June - Basel|fb|FRG|6|fb|AUT|1
4 July – Bern|fb|HUN|1949|2|fb|FRG|3
3 July - Zürich|fb|URU|1|fb|AUT|3

Quarter-finals

footballbox
date = 1954-06-26
time = 17:00
team1 = fb-rt|AUT
score = 7 – 5
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1237/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SUI
goals1 = Wagner goal|25 goal|27 goal|53
A. Körner goal|26 goal|34
Ocwirk goal|32
Probst goal|76
goals2 = Ballaman goal|16 goal|39
Hügi goal|17 goal|19 goal|58
stadium = Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
attendance = 35,000
referee = Faultless (Scotland) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-26
time = 17:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 4 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1264/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = Borges goal|5
Varela goal|39
Schiaffino goal|46
Ambrois goal|78
goals2 = Lofthouse goal|16
Finney goal|67
stadium = Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
attendance = 35,000
referee = Steiner (Austria) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-27
time = 17:00
team1 = fb|BRA|1889
score = 2 – 4
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1248/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb-rt|HUN|1949
goals1 = Djalma Santos goal|18|pen.
Julinho goal|65
goals2 = Hidegkuti goal|4
Kocsis goal|7 goal|88
Lantos goal|60|pen.
stadium = Berne, Wankdorf Stadium
attendance = 60,000
referee = Ellis (England) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-27
time = 17:00
team1 = fb|YUG
score = 0 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1285/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb-rt|FRG
goals1 =
goals2 = Horvat goal|9|o.g.
Rahn goal|85
stadium = Geneva, Charmilles Stadium
attendance = 20,000
referee = Zsolt (Hungary)

emi-finals

footballbox
date = 1954-06-30
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|HUN|1949
score = 4 – 2 (a.e.t.)
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1295/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|URU
goals1 = Czibor goal|13
Hidegkuti goal|46
Kocsis goal|111 goal|116
goals2 = Hohberg goal|75 goal|86
stadium = Lausanne, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
attendance = 37,000
referee = Griffiths (Wales) ----footballbox
date = 1954-06-30
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|FRG
score = 6 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1233/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|AUT
goals1 = Schäfer goal|31
Morlock goal|47
F. Walter goal|54|pen. goal|64|pen.
O. Walter goal|61 goal|89
goals2 = Probst goal|51
stadium = Basel, St. Jakob Stadium
attendance = 58,000
referee = Orlandini (Italy)

Third place match

footballbox
date = 1954-07-03
time = 17:00
team1 = fb|URU
score = 1 – 3
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1239/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb-rt|AUT
goals1 = Hohberg goal|22
goals2 = Stojaspal goal|16|pen.
Cruz goal|59|o.g.
Ocwirk goal|89
stadium = Zürich, Hardturm Stadium
attendance = 35,000
referee = Wyssling (Switzerland)

Final

footballbox
date = 1954-07-04
time = 17:00
team1 = fb|HUN|1949
score = 2 – 3
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/results/matches/match=1278/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb-rt|FRG
goals1 = Puskás goal|6
Czibor goal|8
goals2 = Morlock goal|10
Rahn goal|18 goal|84
stadium = Berne, Wankdorf Stadium
attendance = 60,000
referee = Ling (England)

Awards

corers

11 goals
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Sándor Kocsis

6 goals
*flagicon|AUT Erich Probst
*flagicon|FRG Max Morlock
*flagicon|SUI Josef Hügi

4 goals
*flagicon|FRG Helmut Rahn
*flagicon|FRG Hans Schäfer
*flagicon|FRG Ottmar Walter
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Nándor Hidegkuti
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Ferenc Puskás
*flagicon|SUI Robert Ballaman
*flagicon|URU Carlos Borges

Own goals
*flagicon|ENG Jimmy Dickinson (for Belgium)
*flagicon|MEX|1934 Raúl Cárdenas (for France)
*flagicon|URU Luis Cruz (for Austria)
*flagicon|YUG Ivan Horvat (for Germany)

3 goals
*flagicon|AUT Ernst Stojaspal
*flagicon|AUT Theodor Wagner
*flagicon|BEL Léopold Anoul
*flagicon|ENG Nat Lofthouse
*flagicon|FRG Fritz Walter
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Zoltán Czibor
*flagicon|TUR Burhan Sargın
*flagicon|TUR Suat Mamat
*flagicon|URU Juan Hohberg
*flagicon|URU Oscar Míguez

2 goals
*flagicon|AUT Robert Körner
*flagicon|AUT Ernst Ocwirk
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Didi
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Julinho
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Pinga
*flagicon|ENG Ivor Broadis
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Mihály Lantos
*flagicon|HUN|1949 Péter Palotás
*flagicon|TUR Lefter Küçükandonyadis
*flagicon|URU Julio Abbadie
*flagicon|URU Juan Alberto Schiaffino

1 goal
*flagicon|BEL Henri Coppens
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Baltazar
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Djalma Santos
*flagicon|ENG Tom Finney
*flagicon|ENG Jimmy Mullen
*flagicon|ENG Dennis Wilshaw
*flagicon|FRA Raymond Kopa
*flagicon|FRA Jean Vincent
*flagicon|FRG Richard Herrmann
*flagicon|FRG Bernhard Klodt
*flagicon|FRG Alfred Pfaff
*flagicon|HUN|1949 József Tóth
*flagicon|ITA Giampiero Boniperti
*flagicon|ITA Amleto Frignani
*flagicon|ITA Carlo Galli
*flagicon|ITA Benito Lorenzi
*flagicon|ITA Fulvio Nesti
*flagicon|ITA Egisto Pandolfini
*flagicon|MEX|1934 Tomás Balcázar
*flagicon|MEX|1934 José Luis Lamadrid
*flagicon|SUI Jacques Fatton
*flagicon|TUR Mustafa Ertan
*flagicon|TUR Erol Keskin
*flagicon|URU Javier Ambrois
*flagicon|URU Obdulio Varela
*flagicon|YUG Miloš Milutinović
*flagicon|YUG Branko Zebec

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 background, 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.

References

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/index.html 1954 FIFA World Cup on FIFA.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/54full.html Details at RSSSF]
* [http://homepages.enterprise.net/eico/1954.htm History of the World Cup-1954]