A total of 37 teams entered the 1954 FIFA World Cupqualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Switzerland, as the hosts, and Uruguay, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
37 teams were divided into 13 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows:
Groups 1 to 10 – Europe: 11 places, contested by 27 teams (including Egypt and Israel).
Group 11 and 12 – The Americas: 2 places, contested by 7 teams.
A total of 33 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 57 qualifying matches were played, and 208 goals were scored (an average of 3.65 per match).
Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.
Groups
The 13 groups had different rules, as follows:
Groups 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 had 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Groups 7 and 9 had 2 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 3 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
Group 11 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.
Group 12 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice. The group winner would qualify.
Group 13 had 3 teams. After Republic of China withdrew before the matches began, the remaining 2 teams played against each other twice. The group winner would qualify.
Luigi Franco Gemma, a 14-year-old Italian boy whose father worked at the stadium, picked Turkey's name from the lots with his eyes blindfolded.[1][2] Since the 1970 FIFA World Cup finals, goal difference has been used as a tiebreaker for future qualifying rounds. Had those rules been in place, Spain would have qualified, and Turkey would have been eliminated. This is the first time Spain failed to qualify.
Therefore, Turkey qualified. This was the only time the loser of agreggate score qualified.
Brazil qualified. Despite they qualified for the all World Cups, this was the first time they played the qualifying match, and the first time to the South American zone qualification matches was played.
Turkey gained a place in the World Cup through drawing lots, over Spain after failing to decide which team was the winner of Group 6 after three matches. However, it was not the only one. Morocco eliminated Tunisia during qualification for the 1962 FIFA World Cup by drawing lots, and eliminated Tunisia again on a coin toss during 1970 World Cup qualification. They also eliminated Tunisia during qualification for the 1968 Olympics either by drawing lots or a coin toss. In 1978, Tunisia defeated Morocco during World Cup qualification on penalties, in the first time penalties were ever used during World Cup qualification.
For the first time, qualification matches were actually played in South America, since in all previous World Cups, the South American teams all qualified automatically due to withdrawals (in the case of 1934) or through the South American Football Championship (for the 1938 and 1950 tournaments). Argentina did not take part to the qualification process.
After being banned from the 1950 edition, Germany and Japan were both allowed to play again, West Germany eventually qualified and became champions after defeating Hungary with a score of 3–2 in the final that became known as the Miracle of Bern.
Max Morlock (6 goals)
