1954 FIFA World Cup Facts for Kids

The 1954 FIFA World Cup was a huge international football tournament. It happened in Switzerland in 1954. Teams from all over the world came to compete for the famous World Cup trophy. In the end, Germany won the tournament. They beat Hungary in an exciting final match.

Teams That Played
How the Tournament Worked
- Group Stage Highlights
Knockout Rounds
Top Goal Scorers
Images for kids
See also

Teams That Played

Many countries sent their best football teams to Switzerland for the 1954 World Cup. Here are the teams that participated, grouped by their continent:

Teams from Asia

Korea Republic

Teams from Europe

Teams from North and Central America

Mexico

Teams from South America

How the Tournament Worked

The 1954 World Cup started with a group stage. The 16 teams were divided into four groups. Each group had four teams. However, teams in the same group didn't all play each other. Instead, each team played two matches against other teams in their group.

Group Stage Highlights

Group 1: Brazil and Yugoslavia moved on to the next round.
Group 2: Hungary and West Germany advanced. Hungary scored a lot of goals in this stage!
Group 3: Uruguay and Austria qualified for the knockout stage.
Group 4: England and Switzerland made it through.

Knockout Rounds

After the group stage, the tournament moved to the knockout rounds. This meant that if a team lost a match, they were out of the competition. These rounds included the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finally, the big final match.

Quarter-Finals

West Germany beat Yugoslavia 2-0.
Austria had a very high-scoring game, beating Switzerland 7-5.
Hungary won against Brazil 4-2.
Uruguay defeated England 4-2.

Semi-Finals

West Germany continued their strong performance, beating Austria 6-1.
Hungary played a tough match against Uruguay. Hungary won 4-2 after extra time.

The Final Match

The final of the 1954 World Cup was played on July 4, 1954, in Bern, Switzerland. It was between West Germany and Hungary. Hungary was considered the favorite team because they had been playing incredibly well. They were known as the "Magical Magyars."

Hungary even scored two quick goals early in the match, making it 2-0. But West Germany didn't give up! They fought back and scored three goals. In a surprising turn of events, West Germany won the match 3-2. This victory is famously known as "The Miracle of Bern." It was a huge moment for German football.

Top Goal Scorers

The player who scored the most goals in the 1954 World Cup was Sándor Kocsis from Hungary. He scored an amazing 11 goals during the tournament!

You can find more details about the 1954 World Cup on the official FIFA website.: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=9/index.html

Images for kids

Qualifying countries
Card autographed by coach Sepp Herberger and the 11 German players that appeared in the final

1954 FIFA World Cup facts for kids

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