1954 FIFA World Cup

The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fourth FIFA World Cup staging, was played from 16 June to 4 July in Switzerland. In July 1946 Switzerland was chosen as host country. For all-time goal scoring the tournament set several records with the highest total number of goals scored per game. The tournament was dominated by West Germany, who ultimately defeated Hungary 3–2 and giving them their first victory. On 22 July 1946, Switzerland won the tournament unopposed, the same day Brazil was picked for World Cup 1950 in Luxembourg City. The host and defending champions automatically qualified. For the 14 available seats, 11 have been assigned to Europe, two to America and one to Asia. During the tournament, Australia, Turkey and South Korea all made their World Cup debuts. South Korea becomes the first autonomous Asian nation to compete for races in the World Cup. Austria appeared first as from 1934. Turkey wouldn't take part in a final again until the 2002 competition, but in 1986 the next would be in South Korea. The tournament had used a new format in 1954. The 16 qualifying teams were split into four groups, each of which comprised four teams. Each division had two teams seededed, and two teams unseeded. For each group only four matches had been set, each pitting a seeded team against an unseeded team. That's in comparison to the usual round-robin where each team plays each other: six matches in each season. Another oddity was that extra time had been required in group games if the score was even after 90 minutes, with the outcome being a draw if the score was already equal after 120 minutes, which is not included in the group stage of other competitions. With a win two points were awarded, and one for a defeat. The two teams from each group with the most points advanced into the knockout stage. If the teams in the first and second ranks were level on points, lots would be drawn to determine which team would top the table. Nevertheless, as the teams placed second and third on points, a play-off was held to determine which team will advance to the next round. Two of the four groups wanted play-offs and the two other lots were drawn between the top two teams. The play-offs were between Switzerland and Italy, Turkey and West Germany: earlier wins over the seeds to advance in all tournaments replicated by the unseeded players. Lots were drawn to decide the first-place teams in the other two groups, resulting in finishing in Uruguay and Brazil over Austria and Yugoslavia, respectively. Another unique feature of the format was that during the knockout rounds, the four group-winning teams were drawn against each other to decide a winner, and the four second-placed teams were competing against each other to produce the second finalist. In subsequent tournaments, field group winners against second-placed teams in the first round of knockouts were standard practise. They played 30 minutes of extra time in every knockout game, tied after 90 minutes. If the scores of any playoff game other than the final is already equal after extra time, lots will be drawn to determine which team has advanced. If the game is tied after extra time, however, it should have been replayed, with lots only settling on the winner if the tie had already been tied after extra time. In the case that all the games knockout were decided in either normal or extra time, without the need for replays or draw lots. The Berne Wankdorf Stadium had 60,000 fans pouring inside to see the final between West Germany and Hungary, a replay of a first-round game which Hungary won 8–3 over the German team's reserves.