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

1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
(CAF/AFC–UEFA play-off)
Event 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
Israel Wales
Israel Wales
Wales won the tie and qualified for the 1958 FIFA World Cup
First leg
Israel Wales
0 2
Date 15 January 1958 (1958-01-15)
Venue Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
Referee Maurice Guigue (France)
Attendance 55,000
Second leg
Wales Israel
2 0
Date 5 February 1958 (1958-02-05)
Venue Ninian Park, Cardiff
Referee Klaas Schipper (Netherlands)
Attendance 38,000

The 1958 FIFA World Cup CAF/AFC–UEFA qualification play-off was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the CAF/AFC region, Israel, and a randomly drawn group runner-up from UEFA, Wales. The matches were played on 15 January and 5 February 1958 in Ramat Gan and Cardiff, respectively.[1]

With Wales qualifying, this was the first (and so far the only) time that a country played at the World Cup finals after having been eliminated in the regular qualifiers. This also meant that for the first (and so far only) time, all four British Home Nations qualified for the World Cup finals.

Background

Israel took part in the African and Asian qualification zone. A total of 11 teams were competing for one direct qualification spot to the 1958 FIFA World Cup finals. Israel were drawn into Group 2 of the First Round against Turkey. However, Turkey refused to compete in the Asian group, so Israel advanced to the Second Round automatically. In the Second Round, Israel were drawn against Indonesia. However, Indonesia withdrew after FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground, so Israel advanced to the Final Round automatically. In the Final Round, Israel were paired with Sudan, with the winner advancing to the World Cup. However, Sudan refused to play against Israel for political reasons, so Israel were therefore the African and Asian qualification zone winners.

However, FIFA had imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match, except for the defending champions and the hosts. This was because many teams qualified for previous World Cups without playing due to withdrawals of their opponents. As Israel had advanced automatically through all three rounds under these circumstances, they still had to face another team before they could qualify. Therefore, a special play-off was created by FIFA between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA qualification groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner of this special play-off would then directly qualify for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Therefore, effectively in the end, only 0.5 places were granted to Africa and Asia for the finals.[2]

Wales were drawn into UEFA Group 4, where they faced Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Wales finished second in the group behind Czechoslovakia, and were therefore eliminated from the European qualification zone.

A drawing of lots took place to determine which of the nine European group runners-up would face Israel in the play-offs as the "lucky losers". Belgium were drawn first, but declined to participate. Wales were the next UEFA group runners-up drawn, and after accepting would therefore participate in the play-off against Israel.[3][4] Therefore, the play-off winners would make their World Cup finals debut, as both Israel and Wales had never previously qualified.

Matches

First leg

Israel  0–2  Wales
Report
Attendance: 55,000

Second leg

Wales  2–0  Israel
 Report
Attendance: 38,000
Referee: Klaas Schipper (Netherlands)

References

  1. ↑ "1958 FIFA World Cup Sweden - Qualifiers". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  2. ↑ FIFA Communications Division (19 September 2007). "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ↑ Doyle, Paul. "The Joy of Six: international football play-offs". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Rob (19 November 2014). "Euro 2016: History beckons Wales again in Israel". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
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