1954 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 37 teams entered the 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification 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.
- Group 11 and 12 – The Americas: 2 places, contested by 7 teams.
- Group 13 – Asia: 1 place, contested by 3 teams.
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.
Group 1
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 7 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | −4 | 3 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 2 |
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Group 2
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 7 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 3 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 2 |
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This is the first time Sweden failed to qualify.
Group 3
This group was also the 1953–54 British Home Championship.| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 6 | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 1 |
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Group 4
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 4 | +16 | 8 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 4 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 19 | −18 | 0 |
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Group 5
----Group 6
----Spain and Turkey finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who 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. 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.
Group 7
Group 8
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |
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Group 9
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 4 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 |
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Group 10
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 8 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 |
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Group 11
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Group 12
| Pos. | Team | ||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | +18 | 8 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 4 | |
| 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 18 | −16 | 0 |
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Group 13
----Qualified teams
| Team | Finals appearance | Streak | Last appearance |
| 3rd | 1 | 1938 | |
| 4th | 1 | 1938 | |
| 5th | 5 | 1950 | |
| 3rd | 1 | 1938 | |
| 2nd | 2 | 1950 | |
| 4th | 1 | 1938 | |
| 3rd | 1 | 1938 | |
| 4th | 4 | 1950 | |
| 1st | 1 | — | |
| 3rd | 2 | 1950 | |
| 1st | 1 | — | |
| 4th | 4 | 1950 | |
| 1st | 1 | — | |
| 3rd | 2 | 1950 | |
| 1st | 1 | — | |
| 3rd | 2 | 1950 |
– qualified automatically as hosts
– qualified automatically as defending champions
6 of the 16 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 1958 finals: Belgium, Italy, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey and Uruguay.
Goalscorers
;6 goals;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
- Léopold Anoul
- Mathieu Bollen
- Júlio Botelho
- Harold Hassall
- Dennis Wilshaw
- Olavi Lahtinen
- Jean Desgranges
- Pierre Flamion
- Léon Glovacki
- Roger Piantoni
- Joseph Ujlaki
- Jean Vincent
- Gerard Ellie
- Arthur Fitzsimons
- Reg Ryan
- Giampiero Boniperti
- Amleto Frignani
- Toshio Iwatani
- Alfredo Torres
- Peter McParland
- José Parodi
- József Pecsovszky
- Allan Brown
- Charlie Fleming
- Choi Chung-Min
- Choi Kwang-Suk
- Chung Nam-Sik
- Burhan Sargın
- Ivor Allchurch
- Fritz Walter
- Robert Dienst
- Ernst Happel
- Ernst Ocwirk
- Theodor Wagner
- Victor Lemberechts
- Victor Mees
- Jean-Louis Straetmans
- Maurinho
- Stefan Bozhkov
- Ivan Kolev
- Dobromir Tashkov
- Ted Robledo
- Emil Pažický
- František Šafránek
- Ad-Diba
- Alaa El-Hamouly
- Ronnie Allen
- Ivor Broadis
- Jimmy Mullen
- Johnny Nicholls
- Nils Rikberg
- Jorma Vaihela
- Raymond Cicci
- Jacques Foix
- Édouard Kargu
- Raymond Kopa
- Armand Penverne
- Thanasis Bembis
- Georgios Kamaras
- Dimitris Kokkinakis
- George Cummins
- Tommy Eglington
- Frank O'Farrell
- Davy Walsh
- Ermes Muccinelli
- Egisto Pandolfini
- Eduardo Ricagni
- Ken Naganuma
- Antoine Kohn
- Rafael Ávalos
- Gregorio Gómez
- José Naranjo
- Nicolás Tellez
- Norman Lockhart
- Eddie McMorran
- Knut Dahlen
- Harald Hennum
- Hans Nordahl
- Gunnar Thoresen
- Ireneo Hermosilla
- Eulogio Martínez
- Silvio Parodi
- José Águas
- Valeriu Călinoiu
- Alexandru Ene
- Gavril Serfözö
- Herbert Binkert
- Herbert Martin
- Werner Otto
- Gerhard Siedl
- Jackie Henderson
- Bobby Johnstone
- Willie Ormond
- Lawrence Reilly
- Sung Nak-Woon
- Rafael Alsua
- José Artetxe
- Adrián Escudero
- Agustín Gaínza
- Miguel González
- Venancio García
- Bengt Berndtsson
- Hans Persson
- Gösta Sandberg
- Herbert Sandin
- Arne Selmosson
- Recep Adanır
- Suat Mamat
- Cornelius Casey
- Efrain Chacurian
- Ruben Mendoza
- Helmut Rahn
- Horst Schade
- Hans Schäfer
- Ottmar Walter
- Frane Matošić
- Miloš Milutinović
- Todor Veselinović
- Branko Zebec