1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

A total of 55 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.

1958 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Tournament details
Teams	55 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	89
Goals scored	341 (3.83 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Tommy Taylor (8 goals)

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 West 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 11 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. The Soviet Union and Iceland took part for the first time.

UEFA Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	England	7	4	3	1	0	15	5	3.00
2	Republic of Ireland	5	4	2	1	1	6	7	0.86
3	Denmark	0	4	0	0	4	4	13	0.31

Republic of Ireland  v  Denmark

3 October 1956	Republic of Ireland	2 – 1	Denmark	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
	Curtis  27' Gavin  45' (pen.)	Report	Aa. Jensen  85'	Stadium: Dalymount Park Attendance: 32,600 Referee: Bond (England)

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England  v  Denmark

5 December 1956	England	5 – 2	Denmark	Wolverhampton, England
	Taylor  2', 22', 53' Edwards  66', 77'	Report	O. Nielsen  27', 32'	Attendance: 54,083 Referee: Guigue (France)

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England  v  Republic of Ireland

8 May 1957	England	5 – 1	Republic of Ireland	London, England
	Taylor  10', 19', 40' Atyeo  38', 90'	Report	Curtis  56'	Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Phillips (Scotland)

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Denmark  v  England

15 May 1957	Denmark	1 – 4	England	Copenhagen, Denmark
	J. Jensen  27'	Report	Haynes  28' Taylor  71', 86' Atyeo  75'	Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Dusch (West Germany)

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Republic of Ireland  v  England

19 May 1957	Republic of Ireland	1 – 1	England	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
	Ringstead  3'	Report	Atyeo  90'	Attendance: 36,000 Referee: Philips (Scotland)

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Denmark  v  Republic of Ireland

2 October 1957	Denmark	0 – 2	Republic of Ireland	Copenhagen, Denmark
		Report	Cummins  53' Curtis  61'	Attendance: 28,000 Referee: Schulz (East Germany)

England qualified.

UEFA Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	France	7	4	3	1	0	19	4	4.75
2	Belgium	5	4	2	1	1	16	11	1.45
3	Iceland	0	4	0	0	4	6	26	0.23

France  v  Belgium

11 November 1956	France	6 – 3	Belgium	Paris, France
	Cisowski  13', 15', 44', 72', 88' Vincent  18'	Report	Houf  16' Willems  61', 67'	Attendance: 46,049 Referee: Clough (England)

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France  v  Iceland

2 June 1957	France	8 – 0	Iceland	Nantes, France
	C. Oliver  6', 11' Vincent  29', 83' Dereuddre  36' Piantoni  45', 81' Brahimi  49'	Report		Attendance: 15,080 Referee: Ellis (England)

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Belgium  v  Iceland

5 June 1957	Belgium	8 – 3	Iceland	Brussels, Belgium
	Orlans  4', 57' Piters  11' Vandenberg  12' Mees  22', 26' Coppens  42', 44' (pen.)	Report	Þórðarson  33', 77' R. Jónsson  81'	Attendance: 6,792 Referee: Blitgen (Luxembourg)

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Iceland  v  France

1 September 1957	Iceland	1 – 5	France	Reykjavík, Iceland
	Þ. Jónsson  64'	Report	Cisowski  29', 32' Ujlaki  48', 66' Wisnieski  53'	Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Davidson (Scotland)

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Iceland  v  Belgium

4 September 1957	Iceland	2 – 5	Belgium	Reykjavík, Iceland
	R. Jónsson  1' Þ. Jónsson  65'	Report	Van Herpe  9' Willems  40' Vandenberg  64', 81', 89'	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Davidson (Scotland)

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Belgium  v  France

27 October 1957	Belgium	0 – 0	France	Brussels, Belgium
		Report		Attendance: 56,497 Referee: Helge (Denmark)

France qualified.

UEFA Group 3

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Hungary	6	4	3	0	1	12	4	3.00
2	Bulgaria	4	4	2	0	2	11	7	1.57
3	Norway	2	4	1	0	3	3	15	0.20

Norway  v  Bulgaria

22 May 1957	Norway	1 – 2	Bulgaria	Oslo, Norway
	Hennum  47'	Report	G. Dimitrov  38', 75'	Stadium: Ullevaal Attendance: 27,542 Referee: Lindberg (Sweden)

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Norway  v  Hungary

12 June 1957	Norway	2 – 1	Hungary	Oslo, Norway
	Hennum  10' K. Kristiansen  78'	Report	Tichy  43'	Attendance: 25,724 Referee: Helge (Denmark)

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Hungary  v  Bulgaria

23 June 1957	Hungary	4 – 1	Bulgaria	Budapest, Hungary
	Machos  5', 14', 30' Bozsik  52'	Report	Kolev  69'	Stadium: Nepstadion Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Guigue (France)

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Bulgaria  v  Hungary

15 September 1957	Bulgaria	1 – 2	Hungary	Sofia, Bulgaria
	Diev  43'	Report	Hidegkuti  2', 34'	Stadium: Vasil Levski Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Bernardi (Italy)

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Bulgaria  v  Norway

3 November 1957	Bulgaria	7 – 0	Norway	Sofia, Bulgaria
	Iliev  6', 60', 74' Panayotov  29', 32' Yanev  59' Debarski  77'	Report		Stadium: Vasil Levski Attendance: 22,120 Referee: Macko (Czechoslovakia)

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Hungary  v  Norway

10 November 1957	Hungary	5 – 0	Norway	Budapest, Hungary
	Sándor  12' Csordás  20', 71' Machos  69' Falch  74' (o.g.)	Report		Attendance: 91,000 Referee: Dusch (West Germany)

Hungary qualified.

UEFA Group 4

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Czechoslovakia	6	4	3	0	1	9	3	3.00
2	Wales	4	4	2	0	2	6	5	1.20
3	East Germany	2	4	1	0	3	5	12	0.42

Wales  v  Czechoslovakia

1 May 1957	Wales	1 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Cardiff, Wales
	Vernon  75'	Report		Referee: Bronkhorst (Netherlands)

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East Germany  v  Wales

19 May 1957	East Germany	2 – 1	Wales	Leipzig, East Germany
	Wirth  21' Tröger  61'	Report	M. Charles  6'	Referee: Latyshev (Soviet Union)

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Czechoslovakia  v  Wales

26 May 1957	Czechoslovakia	2 – 0	Wales	Prague, Czechoslovakia
	Daniel  21' (o.g.) Kraus  65'	Report		Referee: Wyssling ()

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Czechoslovakia  v  East Germany

16 June 1957	Czechoslovakia	3 – 1	East Germany	Brno, Czechoslovakia
	Kraus  60' Bubník  81' Molnár  89'	Report	Wirth  18'	Referee: Jörgensen (Denmark)

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Wales  v  East Germany

25 September 1957	Wales	4 – 1	East Germany	Cardiff, Wales
	Palmer  38', 44', 73' Jones  42'	Report	Kaiser  57'	Referee: Leafe (England)

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East Germany  v  Czechoslovakia

27 October 1957	East Germany	1 – 4	Czechoslovakia	Leipzig, East Germany
	H. Müller  35'	Report	Kraus  4', 88' Moravčík  23' Novák  43'	Referee: Schwinte (France)

Czechoslovakia qualified. Wales received another chance to qualify after being drawn to play against Israel in a special play-off; see CAF / AFC Final Round and Play-off.

UEFA Group 5

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Austria	7	4	3	1	0	14	3	4.67
2	Netherlands	5	4	2	1	1	12	7	1.71
3	Luxembourg	0	4	0	0	4	3	19	0.16

Austria  v  Luxembourg

30 September 1956	Austria	7 – 0	Luxembourg	Vienna, Austria
	Hanappi  18', 25' Walzhofer  51' Wagner  62', 77' Kozlicek  71' Haummer  79'	Report		Referee: Liverani (Italy)

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Netherlands  v  Luxembourg

20 March 1957	Netherlands	4 – 1	Luxembourg	Rotterdam, Netherlands
	Van der Gijp  27', 30' Dillen  72' Brusselers  80'	Report	Halsdorf  34'	Referee: Treichel (West Germany)

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Austria  v  Netherlands

26 May 1957	Austria	3 – 2	Netherlands	Vienna, Austria
	Koller  47' Buzek  80' Stotz  89' (pen.)	Report	Van Melis  30', 32'	Referee: Schmetzer (West Germany)

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Netherlands  v  Luxembourg

11 September 1957	Netherlands	5 – 2	Luxembourg	Rotterdam, Netherlands
	Lenstra  15', 28' Wilkes  26' Van Melis  35' Rijvers  54'	Report	Fiedler  5' Letsch  58'	Referee: Murdoch (England)

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Netherlands  v  Austria

25 September 1957	Netherlands	1 – 1	Austria	Amsterdam, Netherlands
	Lenstra  63'	Report	Hanappi  29'	Referee: Ellis (England)

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Luxembourg  v  Austria

29 September 1957	Luxembourg	0 – 3	Austria	Luxembourg, Luxembourg
		Report	Dienst  19' Buzek  47' Senekowitsch  66'	Referee: Versyp (Belgium)

Austria qualified.

UEFA Group 6

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1=	Soviet Union	6	4	3	0	1	16	3	5.33
1=	Poland	6	4	3	0	1	9	5	1.80
3	Finland	0	4	0	0	4	2	19	0.11

Soviet Union  v  Poland

23 June 1957	Soviet Union	3 – 0	Poland	Moscow, Soviet Union
	Tatushin  9' Simonyan  55' Ilyin  77'	Report		Stadium: Lenin Central Stadium Attendance: 102,000 Referee: Clough (England)

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Finland  v  Poland

5 July 1957	Finland	1 – 3	Poland	Helsinki, Finland
	Vanhanen  72'	Report	Jankowski  19', 56', 65'	Referee: Nilsen (Norway)

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Soviet Union  v  Finland

27 July 1957	Soviet Union	2 – 1	Finland	Moscow, Soviet Union
	Voinov  23' Netto  62'	Report	Lahtinen  42'	Stadium: Dynamo Stadium Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Mayer (Austria)

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Finland  v  Soviet Union

15 August 1957	Finland	0 – 10	Soviet Union	Helsinki, Finland
		Report	Netto  6' Simonyan  9', 13', 31' Isayev  12', 20' Streltsov  29', 49' Ilyin  60', 87'	Referee: A. Asmussen (Denmark)

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Poland  v  Soviet Union

20 October 1957	Poland	2 – 1	Soviet Union	Chorzów, Poland
	Cieślik  43', 50'	Report	Ivanov  80'	Referee: Clough (England)

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Poland  v  Finland

3 November 1957	Poland	4 – 0	Finland	Warsaw, Poland
	Gawlik  2' Brychczy  4', 48' Jankowski  60'	Report		Referee: Dusch (West Germany)

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

Soviet Union  v  Poland

24 November 1957	Soviet Union	2 – 0	Poland	Leipzig, East Germany
	Streltsov  31' Fedosov  75'	Report		Referee: Clough (England)

USSR qualified.

UEFA Group 7

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Yugoslavia	6	4	2	2	0	7	2	3.50
2	Romania	5	4	2	1	1	6	4	1.50
3	Greece	1	4	0	1	3	2	9	0.22

Greece  v  Yugoslavia

5 May 1957	Greece	0 – 0	Yugoslavia	Athens, Greece
		Report		Referee: Devillers (France)

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Greece  v  Romania

16 June 1957	Greece	1 – 2	Romania	Athens, Greece
	Panakis  29'	Report	A. Ene  15' Ozon  78'	Referee: Harzic (France)

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Romania  v  Yugoslavia

29 September 1957	Romania	1 – 1	Yugoslavia	Bucharest, Romania
	A. Ene  78'	Report	Mujić  79'	Referee: Grill (Austria)

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Romania  v  Greece

3 November 1957	Romania	3 – 0	Greece	Bucharest, Romania
	Petschovsky  51' (pen.) Tătaru  64' Cacoveanu  67'	Report		Referee: Schwinte (France)

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Yugoslavia  v  Greece

10 November 1957	Yugoslavia	4 – 1	Greece	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
	Mujić  6', 61' Krstić  9' Petaković  67'	Report	Nestoridis  28'	Referee: Jonni (Italy)

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Yugoslavia  v  Romania

17 November 1957	Yugoslavia	2 – 0	Romania	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
	Milutinović  52', 58'	Report		Referee: Seipelt (Austria)

Yugoslavia qualified.

UEFA Group 8

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Northern Ireland	5	4	2	1	1	6	3	2.00
2	Italy	4	4	2	0	2	5	5	1.00
3	Portugal	3	4	1	1	2	4	7	0.57

Portugal  v  Northern Ireland

16 January 1957	Portugal	1 – 1	Northern Ireland	Lisbon, Portugal
	Vasques  24'	Report	Bingham  6'	Referee: Lequesne (France)

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Italy  v  Northern Ireland

25 April 1957	Italy	1 – 0	Northern Ireland	Rome, Italy
	Cervato  3'	Report		Referee: Guigue (France)

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Northern Ireland  v  Portugal

1 May 1957	Northern Ireland	3 – 0	Portugal	Belfast, Northern Ireland
	Casey  22' Simpson  60' McIlroy  70' (pen.)	Report		Referee: Phillips (Scotland)

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Portugal  v  Italy

26 May 1957	Portugal	3 – 0	Italy	Lisbon, Portugal
	Vasques  41' Teixeira  81' Matateu  87'	Report		Referee: Treichel (West Germany)

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Italy  v  Portugal

22 December 1957	Italy	3 – 0	Portugal	Milan, Italy
	Gratton  36', 72' Pivatelli  84'	Report		Referee: Damiani (Yugoslavia)

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Northern Ireland  v  Italy

15 January 1958	Northern Ireland	2 – 1	Italy	Belfast, Northern Ireland
	McIlroy  13' Cush  28'	Report	Da Costa  56'	Referee: Zsolt (Hungary)

The 15 January 1958 fixture of Italy at Northern Ireland was originally scheduled for 4 December 1957, but heavy fog in London prevented the referee (Istvan Zsolt, manager of the Budapest Opera House) from arriving for the match in time. The fixture was postponed, but the match continued as a friendly, and ended in a 2–2 draw and a riot as the crowd (infuriated by the postponement and quite rough play from some Italian players) invaded the pitch. The 'friendly' match was dubbed the 'Battle of Belfast'.[1] Danny Blanchflower, Northern Ireland captain at the time, helped save the situation by ordering his players to escort their Italian counterparts off the field while the police dealt with the crowd.[2]

Northern Ireland qualified.

This was the only time that Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup until their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

UEFA Group 9

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Scotland	6	4	3	0	1	10	9	1.11
2	Spain	5	4	2	1	1	12	8	1.50
3	Switzerland	1	4	0	1	3	6	11	0.55

Spain  v   Switzerland

10 March 1957	Spain	2 – 2	Switzerland	Madrid, Spain
	Suárez  30' González  48'	Report	Hügi  6', 67'	Referee: Erich (West Germany)

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Scotland  v  Spain

8 May 1957	Scotland	4 – 2	Spain	Glasgow, Scotland
	Mudie  22', 70', 79' Hewie  41' (pen.)	Report	Suárez  19' Kubala  28'	Referee: Dusch (West Germany)

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Switzerland   v  Scotland

19 May 1957	Switzerland	1 – 2	Scotland	Basel, Switzerland
	R. Vonlanthen  13'	Report	Mudie  33' Ring  71'	Referee: Seipelt (Austria)

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Spain  v  Scotland

26 May 1957	Spain	4 – 1	Scotland	Madrid, Spain
	Mateos  11' Kubala  33' Basora  60', 87'	Report	Smith  79'	Referee: Leafe (England)

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Scotland  v   Switzerland

6 November 1957	Scotland	3 – 2	Switzerland	Glasgow, Scotland
	Robertson  29' Mudie  52' Scott  70'	Report	Riva  35' R. Vonlanthen  79'	Referee: Leafe (England)

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Switzerland   v  Spain

24 November 1957	Switzerland	1 – 4	Spain	Lausanne, Switzerland
	Ballaman  61'	Report	Kubala  19', 72' Di Stéfano  24', 55'	Referee: Alsteen (Belgium)

Scotland qualified.

South 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

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Brazil	3	2	1	1	0	2	1
2	Peru	1	2	0	1	1	1	2
—	Venezuela	withdrew

Peru  v  Brazil

13 April 1957	Peru	1 – 1	Brazil	Lima, Peru
	Terry  38'		Índio  47'	Referee: Rodriguez (Uruguay)

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Brazil  v  Peru

21 April 1957	Brazil	1 – 0	Peru	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
	Didi  11'			Referee: Marino (Uruguay)

Brazil qualified.

CONMEBOL Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Argentina	6	4	3	0	1	10	2
2	Bolivia	4	4	2	0	2	6	6
3	Chile	2	4	1	0	3	2	10

Chile  v  Bolivia

22 September 1957	Chile	2 – 1	Bolivia	Santiago, Chile
	Díaz  62' Ramírez  68'		Alcón  36'	Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

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Bolivia  v  Chile

29 September 1957	Bolivia	3 – 0	Chile	La Paz, Bolivia
	García  30' Alcócer  70', 86'			Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

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Bolivia  v  Argentina

6 October 1957	Bolivia	2 – 0	Argentina	La Paz, Bolivia
	Alcócer  13' Ramírez  75'			Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

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Chile  v  Argentina

13 October 1957	Chile	0 – 2	Argentina	Santiago, Chile
			Menéndez  40' Conde  61'	Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

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Argentina  v  Chile

20 October 1957	Argentina	4 – 0	Chile	Buenos Aires, Argentina
	Corbatta  1', 41' Menéndez  13' Zárate  45'			Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

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Argentina  v  Bolivia

27 October 1957	Argentina	4 – 0	Bolivia	Buenos Aires, Argentina
	Zárate  8' Corbatta  62' Prado  63' Menéndez  64'			Referee: Wyssling (Switzerland)

Argentina qualified.

CONMEBOL Group 3

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Paraguay	6	4	3	0	1	11	4
2	Uruguay	5	4	2	1	1	4	6
3	Colombia	1	4	0	1	3	3	8

Colombia  v  Uruguay

16 June 1957	Colombia	1 – 1	Uruguay	Bogotá, Colombia
	Arango  15'		Ambrois  46'	Referee: Husband (England)

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Colombia  v  Paraguay

20 June 1957	Colombia	2 – 3	Paraguay	Bogotá, Colombia
	Gutiérrez  10' Díaz  89'		A. Jara  34' Agüero  68' Aguilera  88'	Referee: Husband (England)

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Uruguay  v  Colombia

30 June 1957	Uruguay	1 – 0	Colombia	Montevideo, Uruguay
	Míguez  89' (pen.)			Referee: Husband (England)

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Paraguay  v  Colombia

7 July 1957	Paraguay	3 – 0	Colombia	Asunción, Paraguay
	E. Jara  11', 77' Agüero  27'			Referee: Husband (England)

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Paraguay  v  Uruguay

14 July 1957	Paraguay	5 – 0	Uruguay	Asunción, Paraguay
	Amarilla  5', 48', 57' A. Jara  88' Agüero  90'			Referee: Husband (England)

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Uruguay  v  Paraguay

28 July 1957	Uruguay	2 – 0	Paraguay	Montevideo, Uruguay
	Benítez  8' Martínez  88'			Referee: Husband (England)

Paraguay qualified.

North, Central America and Caribbean

There were 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 advanced to the Final Round.
• Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner qualified.

CCCF / NAFC First Round

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Mexico	8	4	4	0	0	18	2
2	Canada	4	4	2	0	2	8	8
3	United States	0	4	0	0	4	5	21

Mexico  v  United States

7 April 1957	Mexico	6 – 0	United States	Mexico City, Mexico
	C. Gutiérrez  14', 26' Reyes  33', 69', 76' H. Hernández  63'			Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Van Rosberg (Netherlands Antilles)

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United States  v  Mexico

28 April 1957	United States	2 – 7	Mexico	Long Beach, United States
	E. Murphy  5', 45'		A. Hernández  22', 36', 82' C. Gutiérrez  38' H. Hernández  65', 87' Sesma  79'	Attendance: 12,500 Referee: Morgan (Canada)

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Canada  v  United States

22 June 1957	Canada	5 – 1	United States	Varsity Stadium Toronto, Canada
	McLeod  32' Philley  35' Hughes  55', 80' Stewart  57'		Keough  35' (pen.)	Attendance: 5,167 Referee: Sadler (Canada)

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Mexico  v  Canada

30 June 1957	Mexico	3 – 0	Canada	Mexico City, Mexico
	C. González  5', 72' C. Gutiérrez  46'			Referee: Van Rosberg (Netherlands Antilles)

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Mexico  v  Canada

3 July 1957	Mexico	2 – 0	Canada	Mexico City, Mexico
	C. Gutiérrez  8' Sesma  28'			Referee: Van Rosberg (Netherlands Antilles)

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United States [3] v  Canada

6 July 1957	United States [4]	2 – 3	Canada	St. Louis, United States
	Mendoza  42' J. Murphy  80'		Philley  9' Steckiw  14' Stewart  25'	Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Lutostanski (United States)

Mexico advanced to the Final Round.

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Costa Rica	8	4	4	0	0	15	4
2	Territory of Curaçao	2	3	1	0	2	4	7
3	Guatemala	0	3	0	0	3	4	12

Guatemala  v  Costa Rica

10 February 1957	Guatemala	2 – 6	Costa Rica	Guatemala City, Guatemala
	Vickers  19' Espinoza  87'		Hernán  11', 28', 38' Jiménez  17' Montero  48' Murillo  78'	Referee: Sundheim (Colombia)

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Costa Rica  v  Guatemala

17 February 1957	Costa Rica	3 – 1 (66')[5]	Guatemala	San José, Costa Rica
	Jiménez  12' Cordero  28' Herrera  65'		López  61'	Referee: Orrego (Colombia)

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Costa Rica  v Territory of Curaçao

3 March 1957	Costa Rica	4 – 0	Territory of Curaçao	San José, Costa Rica
	Herrera  16', 63' Murillo  35', 67'			Referee: McKenna (England)

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Guatemala  v Territory of Curaçao

14 March 1957	Guatemala	1 – 3	Territory of Curaçao	Guatemala City, Guatemala
	López  51'		De Lanoy  23', 31' Meulens  65'	Referee: Sundheim (Colombia)

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Territory of Curaçao v  Costa Rica

4 August 1957	Territory of Curaçao	1 – 2	Costa Rica	Willemstad, Territory of Curaçao
	Sambo  21'		Cordero  53' Montero  60'	Referee: Orlandini (Italy)

Costa Rica advanced to the Final Round. Territory of Curaçao v Guatemala was not played because the Guatemalan players were not permitted to travel to the Netherlands Antilles (the Netherlands Antilles were still using the nation's former "Curaçao" name).[6] However, neither team would have been able to advance with a win regardless.

CCCF / NAFC Final Round

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Mexico	3	2	1	1	0	3	1
2	Costa Rica	1	2	0	1	1	1	3

Mexico  v  Costa Rica

20 October 1957	Mexico	2 – 0	Costa Rica	Mexico City, Mexico
	Belmonte  77' López  86'			Referee: Husband (England)

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Costa Rica  v  Mexico

27 October 1957	Costa Rica	1 – 1	Mexico	San José, Costa Rica
	Soto  32'		López  27'	Referee: Husband (England)

Mexico qualified.

Africa and Asia

FIFA rejected the entries of Ethiopia and South Korea.[2] 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

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1=	Indonesia	advanced
1=	China PR	advanced
—	Republic of China	withdrew

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

CAF / AFC First Round

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Ave
1=	Indonesia	2	2	1	0	1	5	4	1.25
1=	China PR	2	2	1	0	1	4	5	0.8

12 May 1957

Indonesia	2 – 0	China PR
Ramang  47', 80'

Ikada Stadium, Jakarta

Referee: Jonni (Italy)

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2 June 1957

China PR	4 – 3	Indonesia
Zhang Honggen  1' Nian Weisi  9' Sun Fucheng  47' Wang Lu  75'		Ramang  25', 55' Witarsa  70'

Xiannongtan Stadium, Beijing

Referee: Chakravarti (India)

China PR and Indonesia finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Second Round.

23 June 1957

Indonesia	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	China PR

Aung San Stadium, Rangoon, Burma

Referee: U Ba Thaung (Burma)

Indonesia advanced to the Second Round by having a better goal average. (Penalty shootouts had not been invented.)

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Israel	advanced
—	Turkey	withdrew

Turkey refused to compete in the Asian group, so Israel advanced to the Second Round automatically.

Group 3

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Egypt	advanced
—	Cyprus	withdrew

Cyprus withdrew, so Egypt advanced to the Second Round automatically.

Group 4

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Sudan	3	2	1	1	0	2	1
2	Syria	1	2	0	1	1	1	2

Sudan  v  Syria

8 March 1957	Sudan	1 – 0	Syria	Khartoum, Sudan
	Manzul  78' (pen.)			Stadium: Khartoum Stadium Referee: Riccardo Pieri (Italy)

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Syria  v  Sudan

24 May 1957	Syria	1 – 1	Sudan	Damascus, Syria
	Al-Zarqa  70'		Suleiman Faris  38'	Stadium: Abbasiyyin Stadium Referee: Konstantinos Ioannidis (Greece)

Sudan advanced.

CAF / AFC Second Round

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1=	Israel	advanced
1=	Sudan	advanced
—	Egypt	withdrew
—	Indonesia	withdrew

Indonesia withdrew after FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground. Israel advanced to the Final Round automatically. Egypt withdrew, so Sudan advanced to the Final Round automatically.

CAF / AFC Final Round

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Israel	advanced
—	Sudan	withdrew

Sudan refused to play against Israel because of the Arab League boycott of Israel, so Israel would technically qualify automatically, but before the qualification rounds began, FIFA had ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), and Israel had yet to play any.

Inter-confederation play-offs: CAF/AFC v UEFA

Main article: 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF/AFC–UEFA play-off)

A special play-off was created between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA Groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying. After Belgium refused, Wales, the runner-up of UEFA Group 4, was the team drawn from the UEFA group runners-up.[7]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wales	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	4	Qualification to 1958 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0
2	Israel	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0			0–2	—

Source: FIFA

Qualified teams

FIFA World Cup qualification 1958

Qualifying countries

Team	Finals Appearance	Streak	Last Appearance
Argentina	3rd	1	1934
Austria	3rd	2	1954
Brazil	6th	6	1954
Czechoslovakia	4th	2	1954
England	3rd	3	1954
France	5th	2	1954
Hungary	4th	2	1954
Mexico	4th	3	1954
Northern Ireland	1st	1	–
Paraguay	3rd	1	1950
Scotland	2nd	2	1954
Sweden[8]	4th	1	1950
Soviet Union	1st	1	–
Wales	1st	1	–
West Germany[9]	4th	2	1954
Yugoslavia	4th	3	1954

7 of the 16 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 1962 finals: Austria, France, Northern Ireland, Paraguay, Scotland, Sweden and Wales.

Goalscorers

8 goals

Tommy Taylor

7 goals

Thadée Cisowski

5 goals

Crescencio Gutiérrez Jackie Mudie

4 goals

Paul Vandenberg Tadeusz Kraus John Atyeo

Ferenc Machos Rusli Ramang Edward Jankowski

Nikita Simonyan Ladislao Kubala

3 goals

Omar Oreste Corbatta Norberto Menéndez Gerhard Hanappi Maurice Willems Máximo Alcócer Hristo Iliev Jorge Hernán Monge Rodolfo Herrera González

Álvaro Murillo Jean Vincent Dermot Curtis Alfredo Hernández Héctor Hernández Salvador Reyes Monteón Abe Lenstra Noud van Melis

Jimmy McIlroy Juan Bautista Agüero Florencio Amarilla Anatoli Ilyin Eduard Streltsov Des Palmer Muhamed Mujić

2 goals

Roberto Zárate Hans Buzek Theodor Wagner Henri Coppens Victor Mees Richard Orlans Georgi Dimitrov Panayot Panayotov Art Hughes Brian Philley Gogie Stewart Jaime Ramírez Mario Cordero Rubén Jiménez Rodríguez Danilo Montero Campos Wilfred de Lanoy Ove Bech Nielsen Günther Wirth

Duncan Edwards Célestin Oliver Roger Piantoni Joseph Ujlaki Francisco López Contreras Lajos Csordás Nándor Hidegkuti Ríkharður Jónsson Þórður Jónsson Þórður Þórðarson Guido Gratton Carlos González Héctor Hernández Ligorio López Enrique Sesma Cor van der Gijp Harald Hennum Ángel Jara Saguier

Enrique Jara Saguier Lucjan Brychczy Gerard Cieślik Manuel Vasques Alexandru Ene Anatoli Isayev Igor Netto Estanislao Basora Alfredo di Stéfano Luis Suárez Miramontes Josef Hügi Roger Vonlanthen Ed Murphy Ivor Allchurch Cliff Jones Miloš Milutinović

1 goal

Norberto Conde Eliseo Prado Robert Dienst Walter Haummer Karl Koller Ernst Kozlicek Helmut Senekowitsch Karl Stotz Otto Walzhofer André van Herpe Denis Houf André Piters Ricardo Alcón Ausberto García Didi Índio Spiro Debarski Todor Diev Ivan Petkov Kolev Krum Yanev Norm McLeod Ostap Steckiw Guillermo Díaz Nian Weisi Sun Fucheng Wang Lu Zhang Honggen Carlos Arango Ricardo Díaz Jaime Gutiérrez Juan Soto Quiros Edgard Meulens Hubert Sambo Vlastimil Bubník Pavol Molnár Anton Moravčík Ladislav Novák Aage Rou Jensen

John Jensen Manfred Kaiser Helmut Müller Willy Tröger Johnny Haynes Olavi Lahtinen Mauri Vanhanen Said Brahimi René Dereuddre Maryan Wisnieski Kostas Nestoridis Vaggelis Panakis Augusto Espinoza Jorge Vickers József Bozsik Károly Sándor Lajos Tichy Eddang Witarsa George Cummins Johnny Gavin Alf Ringstead Sergio Cervato Dino da Costa Gino Pivatelli Jean-Pierre Fiedler Johnny Halsdorf Léon Letsch Jaime Belmonte Toon Brusselers Coen Dillen Kees Rijvers Servaas Wilkes Billy Bingham Tommy Casey Wilbur Cush Billy Simpson Kjell Kristiansen Óscar Aguilera

Alberto Terry Ginter Gawlik Matateu António Dias Teixeira Cornel Cacoveanu Titus Ozon Iosif Petschovsky Nicolae Tǎtaru John Hewie Tommy Ring Archie Robertson Alex Scott Gordon Smith Genrich Fedosov Valentin Kozmich Ivanov Boris Tatushin Yuri Voinov Miguel González Enrique Mateos Suleiman Faris Siddiq Manzul Robert Ballaman Ferdinando Riva Jabra Al-Zarqa Harry Keough Ruben Mendoza James Murphy Javier Ambrois Eladio Benítez William Martínez Óscar Míguez Dave Bowen Mel Charles Roy Vernon Dobrosav Krstić Aleksandar Petaković

1 own goal

Edgar Falch (playing against Hungary) Ray Daniel (playing against Czechoslovakia)

See also

• Conspiracy 58

Notes

• For the first time (and, as of 2018, the only one), all four UK teams (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) qualified.
• Wales was the only team to qualify after having been eliminated but then reinstated. This was Wales' only qualification for a World Cup; they have never qualified through the European rounds of World Cup Qualifying.
• This was the first time that Italy failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. Italy would also fail to qualify for Russia 2018.
• Two times former champion Uruguay failed to qualify for the first time after participating to a qualification process and playing games (before that the Celeste has benefited of withdrawals of direct qualification).

Footnotes

1. "Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment – International, Football". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
2. "FIFA Fact Sheet: History of the FIFA World Cup (TM) Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
3. Entire US squad pulled from St. Louis Kutis Archived 2014-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
4. Entire US squad pulled from St. Louis Kutis Archived 2014-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
5. Match interrupted in the 66th minute by Guatemala abandoning the pitch; the result was later affirmed.
6. "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (pdf). FIFA.com. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
7. Doyle, Paul. "The Joy of Six: international football play-offs". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
8. Qualified automatically as hosts
9. Qualified automatically as defending champions

External links

• FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1958 World Cup Qualification
• RSSSF - 1958 World Cup Qualification