1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the European zone (UEFA). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification.

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Hungary	6	4	3	1	12	4	3.00
2	Bulgaria	4	4	2	2	11	7	1.57
3	Norway	2	4	1	3	3	15	0.20

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

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

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

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

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)

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	L	GF	GA	GAv
1	Czechoslovakia	6	4	3	1	9	3	3.00
2	Wales	4	4	2	2	6	5	1.20
3	East Germany	2	4	1	3	5	12	0.42

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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	L	GF	GA	GAv
1=	Soviet Union	6	4	3	1	16	3	5.33
1=	Poland	6	4	3	1	9	5	1.80
3	Finland	0	4	0	4	2	19	0.11

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

Scotland qualified.

Inter-confederation play-offs

Pos	Team v t e	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

Goalscorers

8 goals

Tommy Taylor

7 goals

Thadée Cisowski

5 goals

Jackie Mudie

4 goals

Ladislao Kubala

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

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

References

^ "Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment - International, Football". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
^ "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.

External links

RSSSF.com

[1] "Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment - International, Football". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-11.

[fifaprel-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.

[1]

[2]